Aran: My first fanfic!
by SolomonIcarus
Summary: Samus Aran, legendary bounty hunter and fancy shampoo connoisseur, returns to the Super Smash Bros. contest! This year will be different for her. Samus will meet new people, and discover a long lost secret from her childhood! Let the fourth season of smash commence! This series is based on an obscure, but fascinating Metroid theory. Rated M mostly for some language.
1. Chapter 1: Samus

Aran: My first fanfiction 

Hello, you guys can call me Solo. My username, the title of this fanfic are connected. This story is based loosely on an obscure Metroid theory. I've only seen it referenced twice before on random threads. When I learned of this theory, I got kinda pumped because it involves two very interesting characters.

With this explanation out of the way, let's talk about the plot and rating. Also my writing. The overall inspiration is from the multitude of super smash bros fanfics that I'm strangely really addicted too... just can't stop reading em. Anyways, I'm kind of taking certain elements that are common in other fanfics and putting my own unique spin. As for rating, I don't know how it's going to turn out, probably T or maybe even M just for maturity of the content. I'm not an offensive guy, so I won't put any overly offensive content in it. So the rating isn't coming from being overly disturbing, inappropriate, or swear-word heavy. But I intend it for somewhat mature audiences. As for my writing experience, I'm a nobody as of right now. I'm new to this site, and my only experience are a couple of novels I'm writing. The one I'm most concerned about is a fantasy/sci fi novel. Maybe I'll have more on that in a later fanfic.

This is a smash bros. fanfic. The primary characters TBD, but I know it will include two characters. The first is Samus, the story will at least start from her POV. The other major character... I'll leave that for later. Let's see how the first chapter goes. Let's just say, he's kind of the second most important character, and the character I know more about. This will be a challange as I do not know as much about Samus and the Metroid series. I own the metroid prime trilogy, but I always got stuck, and right now I don't immediately have access to plugging my Wii-U into a TV to play it. I also own a 3ds game I think it's called Samus returns. I've hardly started it. So, if my portrayal of the main character is out of touch, forgive me. I know this is a long summary, but this is my first fanfic, and I'll give more info as it goes. Without further ado, I give you chapter one of "Aran."

WARNING: decent amount of exposition. I'm that kind of guy. Suffer through it, it'll get VERY interesting later.

You know that feeling the day before an important event? It could be your first sports match of the season, a race, heck, if your into the stuff... your first ping pong tournament. You don't exactly know how it's gonna work out. It's a new experience. Outwardly, you look indifferent. But inside, your practically giddy with excitement. What's going to happen? What kind of new experiences can you expect? It was kinda that way for me. Tomorrow, a new season begins. I was part of a multi-universe fighting competition called "Super Smash Brothers". The opening round was tomorrow morning...

yea... I was getting that feeling.

My name is Samus Aran, legendary bounty hunter, and I'm a veteran of this competition. Yet this particular season excited me even more than the rest. The roster kept growing and growing... Their gonna start running out of people to invite. Pfft... next they'll start inviting vampire slayers and evil reptile kings.

I cracked open my left eye just a hair. I was enjoying the lovely chilling breeze.

And the silence.

I knew full well my anti-social, introverted tendencies were about to be frustratingly challenged. Meh. I wasn't worried about the actual fighting. I'm responsible for the destruction of a few planets worth of space pirate scum. I can handle anything. Except for actual genuine human connection. Who can relate to a legendary bounty hunter woman with bird DNA? Well, at least that's how I assume they perceive me. But enough of this.

I opened my eyes fully. I felt the cold metal of the railway car I was perched upon. My surroundings consisted of what looked like an abandoned industrial railroad station. Parallel tracks were occupied by a few decommissioned cars and engines. The one I had selected as my "introvert-recharge spot" was a black tanker. The faded text on the side read: "Molten Sulfur". Surprisingly, the place was dead silent. Of course, this was why I had selected it. Away from all the pre-season buzz. The area around me looked like a wasteland on the outskirts of a large city. It was a custom stage built by the famed creator Master Hand a while ago, but I guess he decided he wouldn't use it for the contest. This is where I felt comfortable. I've almost always gone things alone. Me and my power suit, which I thought of as my own sort of companion... I wasn't wearing it right now. Just sweats and a t-shirt. I wore it for battle, and when I didn't want people looking at me. Other times, I wanted speed and agility, as well as light protection, so I would go for my specialized jumpsuit: the zero suit. My lips curled into a faint smile. This year, I was packing a few new fun tricks! I had a bit of a A-Ha moment a week ago... and designed rocket-propelled high heels for my new suit. Girl's gotta have style, no? Plus, it was fun to zip around in the sky...

My watch dinged. I huffed an annoyed sigh. Somehow, it always seemed like time passed quicker when you were relaxing yourself. My watch read twenty-one hundred hours. After not having moved much for the past hour-ish, I leapt off my beloved spot on top of the tanker car, flipping midair just for kicks, and landed softly on my feet. I started walking in the direction I knew I needed to go. As I walked, I went down my mental checklist, making sure none of my muscles were still sore from pre-season training. I walked in different patterns, putting emphasis on my heels, soles, inside, and outside of my feet. I felt fine. Ice baths really do work wonders...

I didn't have to walk far until I came upon the portal. This place really wasn't all that far away from the Manor, it's just kinda of out of the way, so nobody comes. Besides, who would want to follow me here? People generally don't mess with me. They learned their lesson in the last three seasons...

I felt the familiar feeling of having my very existence and physical form warped, folded, and zipped through space and I did an LSD trip through the portal. Still not used to it. Feels wrong. I emerged from the other side to land on green grass. This was a tucked away corner of Master Hand's petunia garden. The air was different here. I could smell food and drink, and the smells that you would normally expect from taking a diverse crew of legendary heroes from various universes and plopping them all together in one place. If one can even imagine how to.. expect that. I casually safety vaulted the hedges, fences, and "KEEP OUT CRAZY HAND" signs almost is autopilot. Then I jogged around the side of the building, to face the front.

Smash Manor. It was famous throughout the Nintendo universe as being the most exclusive place to be. Only the most worthy fighters from the Nintendo universe were allowed here! Only the FEIRCEST- was that a freaking dog?...

A brown... whatever it was, I don't care to memorize the vast multitude of dog breeds... noticed my presence and came over to sniff my leg. Strangely, a bird stood on the dog's back. A note attached to the dog's collar had a number and a name plastered on it.

Duck Hunt Fighter Id: (insert number here)

...

They let anyone in these days.

My attention reverted back to the impressive building. Clearly, it was Greek inspired, tall ionic columns hefted a subtly triangular roof over the massive entrance. The manor was four stories, with a basement. Samus had only been up to the third floor, which was the boys/men dormitories. She had only briefly visited the basement last year to help Master Hand do repairs on some sensitive equipment. Unlike the vast majority of the smashers here, I was well-versed in modern technology. I could fix anything. Magic... please... who needs that? I'm NOT jealous.

I ascended the stone stairs... by my count, there were exactly 33, wait! 34! They added an extra step from last season somehow... as I drew nearer to the top, I could vaguely hear music playing. Right, the move-in day party. I got here early to have my stuff put in my room for me, and then to arrange my stuff. The party had started at seven, and still going strong. It was being held in the indoor amphitheater/auditorium, where fighters would spectate matches or attend meetings and smash sponsored events. I entered from ground floor, a passageway cut through the raised seats, and lead to a huge circular floor. It was occupied by say,,, about half of the expected roster. Some had gone to bed early. Some of the newcomers were here already. In fact, I had only met one of them earlier today that I had liked at all. I scanned the crowd for blue hair. Nope... that blue hair belonged to Marth... there's Ike... Oh!... No that was peach playing a joke and dying her hair blue... wait what? Anyway... THERE! towards the outside of the crowd (thankfully) was Lucina. I approached her. She was hovering by the refreshments table, casually sipping some punch. No the drink, not the fist-in-your face variety. Those hurt. Especially when the punch is accompanied by a flaming fist owned by a fully grown man wearing a spandex one-piece jumpsuit... yea... it just gets weirder from here.

Hey Lucy! I called, a little bit louder than intended, a couple people turned around to look.

My face flushed a bit red, I imagine, but I ignored them.

"Hey Sam!" Lucina... well she gave me the female equivalent of a brohug. Call it what you will. But somehow, in only one meeting, we were on pet name and hug basis. That has only happened once to me before.

Lucina released me, and I took a good look at her. She was about medium height, shorter than me, but still respectable. Fit. Blue eyes to match her long blue hair. Dressed in an elegant navy blue combat robe, cape included. Her robes were long sleeved, and multi-layered. It seemed like a pretty good balance between being protective and being fairly light. It looked much like Marth's. She wore it casually, and she had that sort of vibe about her. Super chill. She didn't come up as the type to create or participate in drama, or to start it. She was here to compete, and meet a few friends. She didn't want to make a huge splash about it. She had long blue hair that went well down her cape in flowing locks. Blue hair is a fire emblem thing... trust me. Her voice has perfectly balanced between confident, competent, and humble. "You like lemonade?"

"I'll tolerate it." I shrugged as I received the cold drink from her. Somehow, the bowl that she'd scooped it from remained topped off. (damn magic.) "How was the party?"

"pretty great! I met Marth!" From what I understand, Lucina took a lot of inspiration from the Prince swordsman, and smash veteran.

"If you think he's cool. Wait til' I show you my friends." Samus chuckled.

"Speaking of introducing..." Lucina grabbed my arm and started to guide me towards the stairs "I gotta show you our roomies!" Oh yea, did I mention I met her while moving in? Lucina would be sharing a room with me and two others. They bunk smashers in groups of four. It made sense, as four was a special number here in smash. Four players to a match at maximum. (I was in for a surprise this season.) "If you think MY hair color is... unconventional, you gotta meet the other new girl!"

"Newcomer? She a Fire Emblem?"

"No" Lucina chuckled. "She's from a universe I've never heard of, don't really remember what it was."

"I love surprises" my voice dripped with sarcasm. Secretly, I was all for surprises, I had em' every day I explored alien planets.

"You might want these, until you get used to her..." Lucina pushed a pair of sunglasses onto my face.

"Uuuhhh.. what?"

"You'll see!" She smiled brightly at me, enjoying being mysterious.

We climbed the 20... wait a minute 21! Stairs up to the second floor. Why do they keep adding a stair randomly to every god damn stairwell! We get enough leg day as is! We reached the second floor, which had all the girl's dorms.

"201... 203... 205..." Lucina whispered to herself. She read off the numbers as we went along. "Janitor's office... I do hope we get a nice- ah here it is!- janitor you know? having a nice janitor is always good. They're the best to ask life advice from. I remember a janitor from a while ago, his name was Harold, always told me to brush my teeth twice a day, and cut my hair." Lucina chuckled as she used her keycard to open room number 213.

A rush of steamy air overwhelmed my senses from within the room. It was too hot and humid, not much to my liking.

"Someone's boiling enough pasta to feed kirby for a week in there" I grumbled.

"Nah, that's our new roomie, she had a hot spring installed." Lucina held the door open for me.

"I'm not sure I'm ok with this, but I'll give her a chance- Whoa!" From across the dorm, bright light was emanating from the shared bathroom. It was like, 9:25 in the evening! But it looked like natural light... like sunlight... dimmed by my impromptu sunglasses, but still noticeable.

"You'll get used to her" Lucina shrugged, and with a little "HYUP" of effort, hopped right up on the top bunk to the right. Gotta hand it to the girl, she had the ups. She called from her top bunk: HEY, LADY P, SAM IS HERE, IM GONNA GET SOME SLEEP, YOU TWO PLAY NICE!" Lucina immediately slipped on a little mask over her eyes, and comically began to snore. Her arms draped over the space underneath her bed.

"Hello Samus! Come right in, just to warn you I'm taking a bit of a hot spring bath." Called a cool, elegant, and yet playful female voice at the time came from the bathroom. She sounded about my age. Little did mysterious voice lady know, I enjoy a nice hot spring bath from time to time.

"INCOMING CANONBALL!" I shouted!

END OF CHAPTER ONE!

P.S. ...so how did you all like it so far? I'm new to writing fanfics, so don't judge me too harshly! I have a bit of dry sense of humor sometimes, I need to lighten up. Honestly this series is gonna have some comedy in it, with it being sort of an action/drama/mystery/suspense kind of read. I like making my characters a bit goofy and quirky, so forgive me if I get totally out of character with Samus. By the way, if you haven't noticed, I do like Lucina. I sort of almost halfway mained her for a short period of time. She will make the perfect best buddy for Samus! So far, the characters I have introduced (excluding duck hunt, I don't [particularly know what gender he/she is lol.) are females. Don't worry I'll introduce some guys next. I am a guy myself, so it will be difficult to put myself in Samus's shoes... er jet pack high heels? But lots of stories focus too much on just guy characters, and I admit I'm somewhat of a feminist. (yes, male feminists, we exist.) so I'm trying to challenge myself to tell it from a female's point of view. What do you people think of my Samus POV so far? Too pensive? Too goofy? too social? (Samus is widely interpreted as more of a reserved and independent character.) I might end up also doing a POV of the second character, which I'm very excited about. The second character is a dude, and while he is the secondary character, he is very important to the overall premise of the story. HINT: His personality is almost opposite to Samus. I'm literally posting this fanfic right away, starting from scratch, but I hope I can get a decent following of readers. I intend this to be my main series for a while, but I might made some side series, and add some crossovers into this series. I'm considering adding some of my own characters to this fanfic. Anyway, this chapter got kinda long. I won't waste any more of your time.

9/4/18/2018: Hey people I would like to add a few things. I'm going to be focusing on getting people to look at what I have written so far for a little bit before I release the next chapter. The next chapter is very important, as I begin the foreshadow what the secret Metroid theory is. But I want to post it after I get a few more people reading it. But I don't want people just to read it, I want people to post reviews. Tell me how I'm doing, and if you are enjoying it. That way I have some ideas of what you guys are thinking. I already have a first draft of chapter four written, and I have chapters 1-3 published. From now on, I'm going to be editing and updating chapters 1-3, and try to get some more readers. So keep checking back, as my first three chapters will be changing. I will fix errors, change the wording, perhaps even add more content to the first three chapters. When I get my first review, I will post Chapter four!

Solo is peacin' out.


	2. Chapter 2: And they were Roomates!

Hey future readers! I know nobody reads this just yet. but I LOVE writing. I have three chapters up right now, and i'm in the process of editing and updating them for now until I get more viewers, and if I get ONE review, I will post the fourth chapter. Just one! I want to get some feedback! I need to know people are actually reading and enjoying this stuff... I'm desperate now haha. Anyway, the first chapter was just setting the scene, now to dive into the good stuff! Samus is about to make one heck of a splash!

"INCOMING CANNONBALL!"

Let's just say I regretted my decision. But at least I made the other gal enjoy it even less.

SPLASHHHHHHHH!

Steaming hot water all over the floor... even on my new roomie too! Luckily for her, she raised her arm to protect her face just in time.

Not so luckily, the water hurt like a bitch! This lady must like it hot! She lowered her arm to reveal her face, and my jaw dropped. Sitting in front of me, now soaking wet, a slightly annoyed green-haired beauty. Holy f-ng space toasters! SHE GLOWED!

"Thanks for saying before spraying at least..." She growled at me for a tense moment. Then her facial expression changed suddenly into a giddy smile, and laughed at how her relatively dry upper section was now drenched.

We shared a good giggle. Nothing like a good giggle among girls to spark a friendship right? Wrong. Normally I don't put up with giggly girls. I was just in a good mood today. I got a better look at her.

She came across as... holy...? yep, that's the word. She had wrapped in a special kimono bathrobe-ish thing that seemed to dry itself automatically. (I'm really gonna have to get used to magic...) The bathrobe was pure, cloudy white in color. Her complexion looked practically angelic, with the smoothest, fairest skin. The green of her eyes strikingly matched her long green hair. When I say long, I don't mean ME kind of long. Heck, I don't even mean LUCINA kind of long. I mean, she could use her damn hair as a snuggee if she felt like it. Daaaaaaang, dis gurl be styyylin!... on that note, her eyes appeared to me like they were set apart kind of far? (READERS! I challenge you to look up an image of Lady Palutena NOW. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. In some pictures, her eyes seem so far apart she practically has a derp face! xD still boodiful tho!)

She noticed I was studying her.

"go ahead honey, shoot."

Heh... she knew I had a million questions.

"Name?"

Lady Palutena, but you can just call me Palutena.

Then it hit me. "Wait a minute, I recognize you! From last season... I woulda' won that match too... can I call you pally for short? NO! How about Lady P? I'm Samus. Call me sam."

She shrugged "Whatever floats your duck, Sam" Lady P nudged the rubber ducky floating on the surface of the hot spring with her foot.

In matters of height, she nearly equaled myself. An accomplishment for sure. (I looked it up, Samus is just a tad taller, I expected Lady P to be taller, maybe it's those heels.)

"Alrighty, what's up with being a human light bulb? I don't normally wear shades, not wearing em' to be cool or edgy ya know?"

"I am the goddess of light." She smirked proudly. "But I'll dim it down for you, Sam."

I sighed my relief as I removed the sunglasses. The glow had reduced to a faint shimmer, making her look even more amazing with the shades off. No, I'm not jealous! Her hair could be a bigass salad!

"I'm also the goddess of... fun" Lady P waved her hand, and a bottle of wine flew into it. Like a boss, she casually flicked the cork off with her thumb. She took a swig, licking the little drop of wine that ran down her lips. "Aaaaahh..." she sighed in pleasure.

"Gotta a bottle of vodka in that bag on the left bottom bunk. I'm 'fun' too." I jerked my head in the general direction of the bag.

She waved her hand again, and my ears detected the sound of my bag's zipper opening. My ears picked up the whir of the bottle of vodka as it flew through the room. I caught it without having to look. Trying Lady P's fickly trick turned out unsuccessful, so I gripped the cork (do vodka bottles have corks? I'm not old enough to drink so I don't really know...) with my teeth and ripped it off, spitting the cork to my side. I proceeded to chug it, vodka ran down my chin, I felt tingle of the fizzy liquid.

That earned an impressed look from her. Vodka is some strong shit. Trust me, I drank my way through Russia once.

"Careful Sam, you know you gotta' match tomorrow?"

Immediately, I spat the vodka out of my mouth, coughing uncontrollably. "Saywut?!" The matchup for the first round wasn't even posted yet! MH always keeps the opening match competitors secret until the day of. I figured I had a low chance of being randomly selected. I was wrong.

Lady P laughed. "I'll show you what I can do then."

My eyes widened. "I'm gonna fight YOU? We just MET!" I think I let on too much that I was a bit intimidated by how powerful she obviously was...

"Not directly. But I'll be giving your opponent a little help. I'm not even supposed to know who's in the first match, and I promised Master Hand I would keep it a secret. But I think my hint should be enough. Remember what you were saying about seeing me before? Don't get me wrong, we will fight each other eventually I figure. But I'll just be supporting your opponent this time." She explained.

"Is that legal? Or fair?"

"It's kinda difficult to refrain from giving him a little advice. Besides, it wouldn't be fair if I _didn't_ give him a little help... you know how he is." She shrugged.

"Yea, I get ya." I yawned. "All's fair in love and war. I better get some shuteye then. I'm not letting him win." I reluctantly exited the hot springs. I could see why she got one installed, it was starting to grow on me. I went over to my stuff to get ready for bed.

"Nighty Sam, no hard feelings if you lose?" She called after me.

"Pfft. Nah I'm chill. As long as I have my cappuccino in the morning." Nobody f-ks with my cappuccino.

Aaaand that's it! TA-DA! Chapter two! Can you guess who Samus is fighting in her first match? Brownie points if you're right... Ok it's pretty obvious. Cmon... -crickets- ... wow you guys are slow. Fine I'll give you another hint. He saved Canada, eh?

P.S. How am I doing so far? I like my dialogue to be playful and to leave some things out, to the imagination ya know? But seriously, take my Lady Palutena challenge! Gotta have a little fun right? Leave a review, any helpful advice is gratefully accepted. I repeat: I'm new to this. I have thick skin, so if I suck let me know. I just love writing, and I've read fanfics (especially SSB fics) for maybe a couple of years now, and I've always wanted to join in the fun! I wanna get to know other fic writers, does this site have, like a message system? I think it does, if so, send me a nice message introducing yourself. I'm a nice guy, trust me.

OH I ALMOST FORGOT MY LEGAL DISCLAIMER! These characters, and super smash bros. are owned by Nintendo! Vodka is owned by Russia, and Russia is owned by Putin, and... ok you get the point. No copyright infudgement intented.

-Solo is peacin' out.


	3. Chapter 3:Most important meal of the day

HERE COMES THE CHAPTER THREE HYPE TRAAAAIN! Sorry, I really can't help myself. I noticed today that a whole TEN PEOPLE looked at my first chapter! YAS!... like 9 were from the U.S. and there was one Korean... interesting demographics huh?

9/5/2018: I'm updating this chapter, and as of now, I have had 24 visitors, and 41 different views. I've viewed my own story at least once to get the link to my story, so I don't know if it's taking that into account. Hey it's a start. At least I know people are looking at my story already. Right now it's only a few days old, so maybe I'm being kinda impatient.

Anyway, if anybody sees this story and finds it at all appealing, do me a favor ok? I'm new here and struggling to get my story seen. Just tell ONE of your friends about this fanfic, give them the link would you? Not many people are going to happen upon this story without getting a link. I'm begging ya! I promise the more viewers and reviewers I get, the better this thing is gonna be. -gives puppy eyes-

Ok enough pulling on your heartstrings. Time for chapter three. Be honest, did any of you predict the next character? Did anyone take my Lady Palutena derp face challenge? I'm a fun guy, I like to have audience participation! Don't be just a peanut gallery! OK, without further ado, here is Chapter Three of Aran!

BONK! BONK!

"Wake up-wake up-wake-up-wake-up-wake-up-wake-up-wake-up...! Every word was punctuated by a bop to the head from my inflatable hammer on poor Lucina's head.

It worked.

"PICKLES!" She awoke with a start after my 20th bop. "Oh man, I had the weirdest dream, Sam..." Lucina yawned. "Why are you arousing me so early?" she questioned.

"You find getting bopped on the noggin with an inflatable hammer arousing?" I teased. She gave me a "you know what I mean" eye roll. I explained to her: "Lady P told me I'm gonna be in the opening match, and your gonna watch me, Lucy!"

"OH! That's wonderful, I'd love to watch!"

"Shall we, ladies?" Lady P was already up and dressed in an immaculate dress, her green hair somehow combed She must own a massive hairbrush for that stuff. I observed that her teeth were brushed. I can always tell who's brushed their teeth recently and who hasn't.

"We shall! to the Cappuccino machine, Huzzah!" I raised my inflatable hammer in the air as if I were some general calling "CHARGEEEEEE!"

"But I haven't had my morning animeeeeee!" Lucina whined.

I started bopping her on the head again.

"EEEE! Stop! You're making my hair go all static-y!... Okay fine, let's go!"

-SpongeBob French accent narrator voice- Five minutes later.

"Aaaahhh" I sighed serenely. The scent of the cappuccino machine pouring my drink... no joke, that's half of it. The caffeine is only the other half of what gets me going on mornings.

Lady P and Lucina also followed suit, they were both coffee drinkers themselves. Lady P added some French vanilla cream, and Lucina loaded on the sugar.

We were in the "the caf" as we called it, on the first floor. The first floor of smash manor was where all the public rooms were, and where smashers came to hang out in groups, eat, train, and otherwise have a good time. Smash manor was only PART of the smash multiverse. The smash multiverse consisted of a series of connected pocket dimensions. When new fighters were invited, you got a letter telling you the directions to the portal that takes you here.

Anyway, back to the caf. It was a sizeable rectangular room with white-and-black speckled tile floor. The walls were white-painted bricks. Wooden tables were bunched together to form long parallel rows, but the tables could be separated to make different seating arrangements. It was early in the morning. 6:00 am to be precise. The opening meeting would start at 9 o' clock. The opening match began at 10:30, to give fighters a chance to get ready if they only woke up early enough to get to the meeting, not knowing they had been chosen to be in the first fight. I assumed _he_ knew too. That's why I decided to get up early. I was guessing I had risen earlier. I figured I was right, because I didn't see him around. Good. I would be getting more training time then. However, I wasn't alone.

"Hey Sam- HYUGHHNSH:ZORSGNJ254135ohfseri%#^$%" Spluttered Captain Falcon as I shoved a bagel in his mouth before he could say anything."

"C'mon ladies, grab some num-nums and let's get a seat!" I was in a hurry to start my training.

Lucina whined that I had shoved the last blueberry bagel in Falcon's mouth and instead she grabbed a toaster scramble. (I always put those in the microwave, true story.)

Lady P got herself some cereal with milk.

"Hey look, Z 's over there!" Lucina pointed. She was referring to my friend, Zelda.

"You know the princess?" I asked.

"Yea, she's our fourth roomie, she was just hangin' with link last night."

I held up my arms to block the other ladies, put my finger up to my mouth mischievously, and snuck up behind Zelda.

Zelda was talking with elf boy, so she didn't even notice.

"Ugh, I can't believe MH roomed me with HIM!" Link complained. (9/5/18: on editing this part I realized I had put "Link complained" within the quotation marks... as if link was talking about himself in third person LOL! Punctuation placement makes a big difference people!)

"Oh Link, have an open mind, maybe you'll warm up to him. He can be really nice if you get to know him." Zelda reassured him.

I wasn't quite sure what they were talking about, but I didn't care. I was focused on staying quiet. She was entirely oblivious to me sneaking around behind her. Link was chugging a bottle of milk, so he didn't see me either. I tiptoed so close to her, I was right behind her. "SPOOKY GOAT CHEESE!" I shouted suddenly and grabbed her shoulders.

"AAAAH!" she startled and spat out her muffin all over Donkey Kong, who now had muffin crumbs stuck in his fur. He glared at me. I glared back... he turned his head and walked away. "Saaaaaam... you almost made me drop my cwaasooont!" Zelda whined.

"you're having a croissant and a muffin? You carbo loading or something?"

"I'm hungry! Kirby ate my dinner last night!... Hi Lucy, hi Lady P."

Apparently Z was already acquainted with my roommates. Link wasn't. He had startled too, and had just finished nearly choking on his milk. Haha. He wiped his chin with a napkin, and seeing Lady P, he suddenly got up so quickly, his chair fell over. He bowed to my roomie.

"Milady, I am link, hero of time, what is your name?"

I snorted in amusement. He only called himself the hero of time when he was trying to impress someone. Me and Lucy went ahead and sat down. We began to wolf down our food. I myself had selected eggs and ham as my breakfast... some orange juice and chocolate milk... plus the cappuccino.. I was still trying to build some more muscle, plus breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Lady P chuckled at his introduction and declared: "I'm Lady Palutena, goddess of light, how do you do?"

Link was a veteran fighter like myself, there from the beginning. Normally, he didn't talk a whole lot. Mostly just grunts and "HIYAAAAAAAH"s. He wore a green tunic and boots. Tall glass of water and blond. Always carried his sword around. He was pretty handy with it, one of the top fighters to be sure.

"I've never heard of another goddess, I thought there were only three..." Link puzzled.

I drowned out the rest of their convo as I dug into my food. Good luck with that dumbo, she's way out of your league, I thought. The food was exquisite, as usual. After only crumbs remained on our plates, I waved over Kirby, one of the two fighters that we call "food garbage disposals." Kirby took care of the crumbs. He was basically a round pink ball of excessive gluttony. He was the best eater in all of Super Smash Bros., A reputation he took very seriously. He had two stubby feet and arms that came out of his perfectly spherical body. His face consisted of two bright blue, innocent looking eyes, and a smile. My crumbs didn't last very long. He waved at me, and somehow I understood he was communicating to me: "Thanks, I'll see you later!"

Zelda spoke up: "So... Sam, liking your new roomies?" She had been momentarily distracted by wiping muffin crumbs off of her lips and the table.

"They're alright, I guess." I shrugged.

At first Lucy and Lady P looked almost offended, until Zelda reassured them that "alright" was the highest level of esteem I could afford anyone. That made them feel slightly better. Yea.. Zelda knew me. She and I were roommates last season. It didn't look like she had changed much. Still the same old Z. She had her usual floor-length dress on, white and purple colored, wearing elaborate jewelry including a necklace, earrings, and a tiara on her hairline. She had sharp features, kind of like link.

"Ready for your match today? Lady P told me about it."

"Hell yea. I've been training during the off-season. I'm in the best shape I've ever been!" I flexed my biceps, and everyone looked a bit surprised and impressed, even Link.

"I'M JOHN CENAAAAAAAA!" I Roared, and spontaneously grabbed link and tackled him to the ground, much to his surprise.

"GAH!" he yelped as he fell heavily on the hard floor. The ladies all laughed so hard, that Lucina's orange juice started coming out her nose.

Alright this seems like a good time to end.

Anyway, I wanted to get some author's notes in! Just wanted to say something to whoever is reading my stuff. (Looking at you, that one person from Korea! Lol sorry, don't mean to single you out, buddy!) Firstly, everything I put in parenthesis is like, something I am interjecting from an authors perspective, this isn't Samus's thoughts. Yes, I put my toaster scrambles in the microwave, I think it's actually better that way. Judge me.

Also I kinda forgot to add this last chapter, and my notes so far have been pretty long anyway, so I'll just say this now. I told everyone it was rated M for language, but I also want to add that there's been some alcohol usage in the second chapter. I even, not thinking about it, referred to alcohol usage as "fun". I wanna clear some things up to ease my guilty conscience. Drinking can be a pleasant experience if you can handle it responsibly. I'm no drinker, but I heard if you drink too much you can't remember it anyway. That's no fun. Plus there's the fact you gotta deal with hangovers... and all the other problems that come with drinking. (Think about it for a sec.) Drinking is a serious issue for a lot of people and I didn't wanna take it too lightly. DRINK RESPONSIBLY! Thank you.

IMPORTANT NOTE: this chapter was just some filler content and to introduce some new characters. I told you guys up front that this series is based on a Metroid theory, and it will be covered later on in the story. I call this a suspense story because it has lots of "rising action", meaning a lot happens before we get to the climax of the story. But don't worry, the next chapter I'm likely to get serious and move the story further. I'm introducing my second main character next. Stay tuned.

By the way are you noticing that I'm starting to put quotes from random vines in my chapters? Teehee, I told you I'm a fun guy!

-Solo, peacin' out.


	4. Chapter 4: The guardian angel

-is crying tears of pure joy and happiness- Guys, I have news to tell you. I GOT MY FIRST REVIEW! Thank you SO much to whoever left it. (it was anonymous) I really appreciate it! Don't worry, I will keep it up. Now I can post this chapter! This is where it really gets interesting. I have to say, this chapter went well. I wrote it late last night, feeling inspired. Not to brag, but I like to say I have a decent imagination. Ok I'm totally bragging.

This is it, the chapter you've been waiting for. Samus is about to fight a match against the second most important character of this fanfic. Long chapter ahead.

"Prepare yourselves."

Pacing and timing in your training is very important. Especially when there's a big match coming up. I did a little "shakeout" exercise right after breakfast. Ideally, you should do this four hours prior. But I didn't want to wake up THAT early. Getting a good night of sleep is vitally important... currently, It was 10:00. The opening match would be in thirty minutes. I had decided to use my power suit for this match. When I go zero suit, I focus more on range of motion and doing some warm up flips, as my zero suit game plan involved more acrobatic moves. With my power suit on, my strategy involved less physical effort on my part, and more accuracy. I had spent some time calibrating the targeting sensors. I had already warmed up with basic drills. Now it's time for target practice.

Stepping into the simulation room, I remembered programming my own custom target practice routine last season. All I had to say to get it started was:

"Computer. -beep- Samus Target Practice sim 1."

Another beep confirmed that the built-in computer had understood my command. The background changed to Norfair, the stage I was to fight on. Lady Palutena let me know that too, she felt kind of guilty for having to help out my opponent, so to be fair, she notified me of the stage ahead of time... I think we're going to get along just fine, especially if she keeps doing me favors.

I put my helmet on, and the airtight seal engaged. I was standing on one of several floating metal platforms over a sea of lava. I could FEEL the heat in the air, and the surface of the platforms on my feet.

Moments later, it started raining tacos. You heard me right... -it's raining tacos song plays in background- Only slowly, so I had a chance to shoot them out of the air before they fell in the lava.

PEW! PEW! PEW! I fired uncharged shots at the tacos, I hit the first, missed the second, and grazed the third... excuse me, I'm a little out of practice. The music sped up, and more tacos fell.

PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!

This time I only missed the last one.

I continued this for a while, all the while listening to the intercom. All of the other smashers were in the auditorium, attending the opening ceremony, but the fighters who were selected for the fight typically were told beforehand so they could get a chance to prepare. Luckily for me, I had learned early, and just pretended like I didn't know, and that I was surprised when Master Hand "broke the news". This was turning out pretty good so far. Any edge you can get over your opponent is essential in a balanced fighting competition like super smash bros. I continued listening to the intercom while I trained, ridding the virtual world of falling tacos...

"Will the two selected fighters please report to the teleportation rooms!" Master Hand's commanding voice boomed over the intercom. Even the audience members wouldn't know who was fighting until they saw the contenders on the big screen... or were simply observant enough to notice who was missing... but then again, not everyone attends the opening ceremony if they were too lazy to get up, so even that wasn't always a perfect strategy.

"Computer, end simulation." -beep-

I ran out of the room, jogging down the hall. On my way, I took a peak from a window that overlooked the auditorium. All kinds of people were seated there, all the fighters, and even the "assist" trophy characters were watching the big screen... I sighted Waluigi among them... poor soul. People from all over the Nintendo universe could tune in to watch... this was all done in the name of entertainment anyway. Well, they're gonna get their way. I'll give em' a good match! I kept going down the hallway. I was taking one of the more out of the way routes to get there. I reached teleportation room B, which happened to be on the other side of the manor from room A, it was made this way so that fighters wouldn't meet before they fought on the battlefield. Surprises are wonderful. Except that I knew exactly who I was fighting. I fought him last season... heh. He's gonna be a veteran this year. Proud of him, he did decent last time. Too bad I gotta kick his ass.

I screeched to a halt right on to the platform surface. I wanted to get there first. I already had a game plan in mind, but I knew it had the potential to fall apart. That's the thing with plans. Make em, but expect to break em'. The teleportation device hummed...

Being teleported is quite an experience. While you are being teleported, you enter a unique state of consciousness. Every other time I do it, I get weird dreams. I had grown accustomed to it, and the resident doctor and psychiatrist, Dr. Mario said I shouldn't be too worried about it, as long as I took a few pills... it... feels like I'm... dreaming...wait... not this...!

NO!

I was there again... my perspective was different, as if I was viewing reality from a slightly different angle. A much lower angle, to be particular. But my viewpoint was not what concerned me. It was what I saw that did. Every single thing around me seemed to be engulfed in flames... the air starved me of oxygen. Visibility was limited by smoke, and my lightheadedness. But I could hear everything around me perfectly fine. The anguished screams, calls for help, and creaking of shredded metal left a lot to the imagination. Startling me, an earsplitting screech pierced my ears from above. Something swopped seemingly just half a dozen meters above me. I fell to the ground, crying... I didn't understand what was going on! It was normally so quiet around here...

SNAP THE FUCK OUT OF IT!

"DAMNIT!" I slammed my non-cannon arm so hard into the platform below me, the platform shook and wobbled, and I fell over. Automatically, my hands went to my face to wipe away my tears, but I remembered I was wearing my power suit... how appropriate was this stage... everything here was hot too. I felt a dull pain in my non-cannon hand from punching the ground so hard... the suit was slightly dented. I hoped they didn't have audio linked to my suit, because I was doing a poor job stifling anguished tears. Why was life this way? All the fighting... all the fighting... I couldn't get up... not now, after all the preparation I had put into the match... I couldn't handle it now!

-from Zelda's POV

"Something's wrong!" I whispered to my new roommates. I had just met them yesterday, but I already trusted them. They too looked concerned.

"Maybe she over trained, and she's tired?" Lucina responded nervously.

"Not likely, Samus is in better shape than any of us." I was quite confident of that. Samus could handle anything. She's so strong, if she had over trained a bit, she could tough it out. But something worse than that was affecting Samus. I could tell, it kind of sparked some memories from last season. There were times when Samus would spend entire days missing. Right before, and after she was always gloomy... I thought she was dealing with bouts of depression or something.

The audience at large also looked confused, but their attention shifted away as the other fighter entered the stage. He made quite an entrance, a beam of sunlight suddenly manifested out of thin air... and he floated down... But Samus hadn't even noticed.

Samus's Opponent's POV

I had practiced this all week! All I gotta do is drift down from the sky and flaps my wings all dramatically! Who was I fighting again? I feel like Lady Palutena had mentioned that while she gave me a prep talk, but I was too distracted by how hungry I was. She had insisted I skip breakfast today, after getting up at like, 4:00 am to train! "It's not my fault you played Legend of Zelda all day yesterday and neglected your training, pit!" She had scolded me... I guess she had a point. OH NO, -waves hand crazily- THE AUDIENCE DOESN'T NEED TO READ THAT! DON'T WRITE THAT ONE!... I MEANT I WAS PLAYING uh... MINECRAFT!... -sigh- too late. Welp, time to stand on the magic teleporty-thingy and do my flappy wing routine. Here we go! I step on the circle, and ZIP! While I was being teleported, I had a dream of flying. I almost always dream of flying... I wish I could fly on my own. Oh well... most people don't get to fly at all, I shouldn't be so greedy.

And here I am. I made sure I made a good entrance for all the fans! Sure I have fans! I've got my own video game series! Like, THREE whole games! I made my landing on a platform. Whoa, cool! I'm on Norfair! I love this map, and I'm fighting- ...

"Samus?" I subconsciously whispered out loud.

"Yes, she's my new roommate, I met her yesterday. Didn't I tell you she was your opponent? You were paying attention right?" came the ever-present voice in my head.

"Uuuhhh..."

"PIT!- wait, is she always like this?"

I could see her from across the stage. She was very recognizable in her power suit, I could spot her from a mile away... but something was wrong. She was on one knee, with one of her hands propping herself up. She was shaking a little bit. Her body language seemed like she wasn't okay... was she covered in taco ingredients? before I could think about this further, I started runnign towards her. No, not because I was hungry. Food is usually quite high on my priority list, but Samus beats food.

"PIT! You're not allowed to approach your opponent before the round starts!" Lady Palutena sounded surprised. I never break rules... but this time I felt like I had to.

"Something's wrong!"

I knew Samus. She never shows any signs of weakness. Something terrible must have happened to her, I can't just ignore that, what kind of friend would I be to her?

Samus's perspective

My breath came out unevenly. My nose was runny. Butterflies in my stomach. Uncontrollable shaking. Sweat poured down my face, down my back. It wasn't from the lava. My suit insulated me from extreme temperatures fairly well... no, It wasn't anything physical that had brought on any of this. Sometimes the deepest wounds are the ones you can't see. I sniffed, trying to pull myself together. My vision was a bit blurry, but I swore I saw something move into my frame of view. I tried to focus on it. I was looking down at... it was a pair of feet. A fairly small pair. They were wearing sandals. _What are those_?! My suit detected a hand on my shoulder. Why had he approached me? It was standard procedure to stay in your half of the stage until the match started!... but I knew why.

I looked up to see an angel standing over me. Well... standing over me is an understatement. I had one knee and one hand on the floor, but even in that position, the top of his head wasn't THAT much higher than mine. I took off my helmet for a second, despite the heat, a few tears still stained my face. Hopefully he couldn't distinguish between them and my sweat.

His name was Pit. He leaned over a little bit to wipe the tears from my eyes.

My vision was still a little fuzzy, but I could make out his small shape. His white toga, his brown sandals. The glowing golden bracelets he wore, that floated around his arms, like halos. The golden olive leaf that ran through his chocolate brown locks... how in the hell- sorry heaven- does he spike his hair like that? His dual-bladed short bow. Most of all, his innocent, sky blue eyes.

I managed a weak "Thanks... kid..."

He smiled nervously at me. "You okay?"

Seeing pit had made me feel marginally better. I now had the motivation to stand up and face life again. Though life may be cruel and at times seemingly merciless... it was worth living. You never know what's around the corner. This was going to be my season. I was going to defeat anyone standing in my way, starting with this little angel here. I wasn't gonna let him off easy for being nice. He extended a hand to help me up. Normally I wouldn't accept such an offer, but in the palm of his hand, I could see a small purple object. A phial that contained some sort of liquid. No, not just any old liquid. I, unlike many other fighters, was well-versed in the oddities of the universe from whence he came. I took his hand, and he pulled me up with surprising strength. He winked meaningfully. Just before we parted hands, I grasped the little purple object, I kept it hidden from the cameras. I Pretended like I was wiping sweat from my face, I secretly uncorked it and dropped it in my mouth. I felt the liquid ooze out of the phial and onto my tongue. It tasted delicious, like a nice, hot cappuccino. I spat the tiny object out into the lava. The audience might think it was chewing gum, which I often chewed during matches. Instantly, I felt different. The intense heat radiating from the lava momentarily ceased. I felt like a comfortable breeze had cooled my body. Whatever minor aches or soreness I had that day melted. The pain in my left knee, still recovering from an injury during a recent mission, faded. Damn, I felt great. I put my helmet back on. My visor display scanned pit, giving me some juicy data on his physical capabilities. After what he had just done for me...

I would feel slightly bad for beating the crap out of him.

He will forgive me.

Bam! That ends chapter four! Who guessed who Samus was gonna fight? Be honest. Pit is my main in smash, and my fav, so I couldn't resist doing his point of view. Did you notice I made him do a little 4th wall break? It might happen again. He's important to the plot of the story, so stay tuned.

Also, I think I'm going to make quoting vines a regular thing now. It's fun! On a more serious note, Samus had a flashback in this chapter. This will also be important later on.

Lastly, I'd like to add this is kinda like the first-ish draft of the second version of this chapter I made. In the first version of this, I didn't have pit's POV, and focused entirely on Samus's, and went into more detail describing Pit. I like how this version turned out more. But, keep in mind that this is essentially a first draft. (I'll edit it more later!) But I don't want to wait to post it, because I want to express my gratitude for the user who left me a review. That seriously just made my day. Thank you, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and if you all want to see this story continue to get better, please leave more reviews and favorite if you enjoy it enough!

-Solo is happily peacin' out!


	5. Chapter 5: Return of the Tacos

Solo here. This chapter took longer to get on Fanfiction cause' I've been busier. I've decided to get my stuff together and really hit my homework harder. So my chapter postings from now on might be a little less frequent, but trust me, I'll keep it up.

DOC LOUIS FOR SMASH!

-wait what?

WARNING: SLIGHT LIBERALISM AHEAD! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!111

I was a little embarrassed from that little episode. But I figured I could save face by winning the match. I was thinking through my battle plan as Pit jumped and flapped his way back to the far side of the map. With my power suit on, I can't catch him very easily, he's a quick little rascal. But I could more than match him in the shooty department, unless my worst fears were confirmed and he whipped out one of those laser cannons. But I doubt it. Thing is, no character in smash truly uses the full extent of their power. Master Hand sets strict rules about what you can and can't do. No moves that destroy or otherwise tamper with the very fabric of space-time. No "modern" weapons like automatic rifles. (I'm always tempted to say assault rifle but those crazy gun nuts tell me that isn't the correct term. So basically we need to have political correctness for guns, but not for people?!) No portal guns... those are fun as hell though... the point is that characters don't always bring all their weapons or abilities along with them. Anyway, I was a little bit worried about what kind of ranged weapons pit had brought, so maybe going "Spamus" wasn't the best idea?

I was so distracted by my thoughts on portal guns that the announcer's voice took me by surprise.

THREE!

uuuuuhhhhh... maybe then I should just try to anticipate his rushes and play defensively?

TWO!

NO WAY! I GOTTA PLAY AGRESSIVE AND EXERT MY DOMINANCE! RAAAAWWRRRR-

ONE!

... I'll figure it out along the way.

GO!

I knew I was in for a good fight. Or a bad fight, depending on how you look at it I guess? Personally, I enjoy some good ol' violence every now and then. I was going to take this match seriously, it was the opening match. Besides, as young as my opponent looks, I know he's had many years of training and experience. He's a one-angel army and air force in one tiny little package. Angels were designed as living weapons by Lady P long ago, so I've heard. They are superhumanly strong, although I've heard Pit was just about the weakest among them, but he made up for it with his increased speed and agility. Angels also have the power to take hits that would kill a regular human being without major injury, although even they have limits. Whatever injuries they do sustain, they can heal many thousands of times faster than a human can. Pit... was the last one, as far as I knew. However, I was no regular human myself. I had some Chozo DNA in me. It gave me similar perks to the one's Pit has, maybe to a lesser extent. But my power suit easily closed the gap. I've destroyed entire planets, he has slain deities, I'd say we both have some powerful attributes and impressive accomplishments. He has magic, I have technology. However... I did have one distinct advantage over him. Yea, he's a pretty good fighter, but he's kinda lacking in the brains department. Lady P keeps him stupid and gullible so that he never questions her orders. Rumors say he doesn't even know how to read. Of course, I knew he would get receiving some guidance from Lady P. I put two and two together, and figured out they must have some telepathic communication abilities, unless he really was just talking to himself all the time last season. Okay... he does have an advantage over me, he has a bow that doubles as a melee and ranged weapon...

I brushed my thoughts aside as I landed on the central platform to face him. He already had his bow out. He smiled innocently at me for a second, but without warning, he rushed at me full speed, bow halves split and ready. His speed caught me off guard, I had to lunge backwards quickly to avoid being hit by his dual blades. Pit could swing his bow halves so quickly, they made a sound as they sliced the air, missing me by mere centimeters. His boldness surprised me, impressed me, and kinda ticked me off. How dare he actually be good at smash! Time to show him who's BOSS! I lashed out my grappling beam to knock the bow out of his hands. Immediately, I followed up by shoulder tackling him. He fell backwards, but regained his balance quickly.

"Dat all you got?" He grinned.

"F-k you angelface!" Spamus mode activated!

He dodged the first missile limbo-style, slid under the second, grabbing a dropped ice cream cone on the way, then dodged the next fifteen missiles while casually eating his floor ice cream. He laughed happily while doing so. He was having a good time.

Sigh. Looks like I have to do this the hard way.

"You got some ice cream on your chin."

He checked, and then realized I was distracting him. too late. He attempted a another slash at my face as I charged him, but I had more time to react. I caught his arm, effortlessly judo-throwing him over my shoulder, and kicked him the other direction.

"Oof!" He landed hard on his stomach. He got up just in time to take a charged shot to the stomach. I knew he could re-summon his bow within a second or two, as the bow was magically tied to the bracelets on his arm. So I attempted to dash attack him before he could get his bow back. But at the last second, a clunky, and extremely heavy looking metal battering ram formed around his arm, and he swung it with ease, right into my shoulder. The sheer kinetic energy threw me backwards. I landed hard on my upper back. It took me a split second to recover. I hadn't sustained any damage, but there appeared to be a sizeable dent in my shoulder armor. My suit was designed to take hits from the most powerful of conventional weapons, but it wasn't designed to take a hit from magical weapons. I took a deep breath. Pit was using his wings to hover in the air just over the platform, he had his hands behind his head, in a relaxed position, yawning as if the fight was boring him. MY attacks hadn't affected him all that much. I needed something to get an edge over him. I sighted something just behind him fall to the ground. Perfect. I rushed at him again. He used his wings to hop over me and dodge, but that's what I wanted him to do.

I picked up a fire flower from off the ground...

"uh oh." He had landed, and took a step back. It's hilarious how when he's nervous, his wings droop a bit,

"Since you were nice, I'll give you head start of two seconds." I grinned evily.

"Wha-?"

"TIMES UP!" I started to charge at him.

For the next four minutes and twenty five and a half seconds, I chased him around with the baseball bat, until I remembered that I couldn't catch him in my power suit. I took a breather. This was turning out to be a frustrating match.

"Come fight me!" I demanded.

"No way! You have the fire flower!"

"Chicken!" I started flapping my arms and making chicken sounds.

"I'd rather be chicken than fried chicken!"

"Why are you worried? I already used all the fire."

"Not falling for it!"

"Look! This bitch empty, YEET!" I pretended to chuck the fire flower away, but secretly I had taped it to my back.

He fell for it.

"Okay, here I come!" He flapped over to me, his bow ready.

We stood there for a second, looking at each other.

"Ladies first." Pit offered.

"Then why aren't you making the move?" I taunted.

That did it. He charged at me, I got ready to whip out my fire flower, but surprising both of us, the unexpected happened.

ITS RAINING TACOSSSS! OUT OF THE SKY! TACOS! NO NE#ED TO ASK WHY!

my target practice simulation started all on its own in the middle of a battle? What?

I watched, very confusedly, as tacos started falling onto the stage. I caught one, unsealed my helmet, and sniffed it. Yep, cheddar cheese... refried beans... lettuce... fresh tomato... guacamole... these were definitely my tacos. Pit was now sitting cross-legged on the floor, happily munching away on some tacos, totally forgetting we were in the middle of a match.

Phew, I had to make three different versions of this scene to get it right. This took a while to write, sorry for the delay. I've been a very busy boi. By the way earlier did you guys notice I referenced another fanfic? When I gave a hint as to who Samus's opponent was I said that he "saved Canada". There's a HILARIOUS fanfic out there titled "Pit saved Canada" and its GOLD. Read it while I work on my next chapter! Also if your confused why tacos are falling from the sky stay tuned for chapter six.

I finished this chapter in a rush cause I wanna go hang out with my bestie. See you later!

-Solo is peacin' out!


	6. Chapter 6: WTF happened?

Chapter Six

10/13/2018: No, I'm not dead. It's fall break now, so I've had a spare minute or two to write this, otherwise ive been pretty busy. You know, homework and all. I'm getting better at finding time, and I'll try to write more frequently in the future. I bet you're all kind of confused about what happened last chapter. Let's pick up shortly after we left off.

10/25/2018: Hey I'm back, I started the chapter over fall break. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, I got hooked on anime, I'm watching Naruto right now, and the last scene of this chapter is inspired by the first fight scene between Kakashi sensei and Zabuza. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch Naruto, I promise you, you will not regret it! Ninjas are awesome! Especially anime ninjas...)

-  
I came to.

Not to sound cliché, but the first thing I thought was, where am I? Well, I knew where I wasn't. I wasn't on the Norfair stage anymore. The last thing I could remember was the taco incident. It seemed innocent enough at first, until we had realized that some of the tacos had contained smart bombs. MH must have picked up on that too, since he had teleported us to different stages to avoid being "explodinated". (Crazy's favorite word.) This stage didn't look like it was in the best shape either. It looked like an abandoned modern coliseum, with the audience seats surrounding the battle arena, which consisted of a flat surface. It was heavily damaged, with huge chunks of the seating gone, scorch marks and craters on the surface of the battle area. I could see a giant rotting hunk of what looked like plant material, and some other strange objects. Two human-sized metal cages, and what looked like the remainder of the shell of a... subspace bomb! From the gaping holes in the audience seating, I could see that I was in the middle of a vast, flat plain. I decided I wanted to climb up what remained of the audience area to get the high ground, to get a better look. But as soon as I tried to move, a sharp pain in my stomach make me scream out in pain. It seemed as if I hadn't been teleported out of there soon enough. I could recognize a sharp slab of metal lodged into my lower left obliques that would of belonged to the Norfair stage. It had penetrated right through my power suit. I felt a little woozy and giddy.

"Mothertrucker dude, that hurt like a buttcheek on a stick" I laughed incoherently.

Nobody answered, apparently there were no "dude"s in the near vicinity to respond.

Not any alive at least.

I gasped a deep breath when I noticed.

There were strange remains of bodies laying all over the ground. But they weren't human bodies, they looked more like those weird robot things we all had to fight last season. Yea it's a long story, and I didn't see all of what happened as I was busy most of the time trying to get my power suit back and save this cute yellow zappy mouse, but my friend Pit's description which I remembered was: "DUDE, SAMUS IT WAS CRAZY! A BIG SPACESHIP THING FLEW AROUND AND STARTED POOPING OUT PURPLE FAIRY DUST THAT TURNED INTO EVIL ROBOT DUDES THAT STARTED ATTACKING ALL OVER THEY EVEN ATTACKED SKYWORLD AND MARIO WAS A TROPHY, AND OTHER PEOPLE STARTED TURNING INTO TROPHIES, AND THESE BIG BOMBS KEPT GOING OFF ALL THE TIME, LIKE BOOOOOOOOOM! AND-" at that point I remember I had stuffed an ice cream cone into his mouth to make him shut the f-k up. But I think that generally wraps up the chaos that was the subspace war. This must be the aftermath. I had taken advantage of visualizing Pit hopping around in circles and telling me his story to distract me from the pain from wrenching out the shrapnel in my stomach.

"MMMMPH!"

Most of the main functions of my power suit were offline due to the damage. My suit's energy level was pretty low as well. I put pressure on my wound with my hands.

Well, I was still in the smash multiverse. But this must be an unused stage, like the one I was hanging out on the night before the opening match. Therefore there was a portal out somewhere. The only issue was the fact that my wound would prevent me from getting up. Every breath I took made it throb with and sting with pain. I could use another one of those potions... but if I remember anything from those Percy Jackson books, drink of the gods can kill you if you have too much as a mortal. I thought for a second and checked the fuel level on my jump boosters. I still had enough energy left to use one burst and still have an hour or so of energy left. I just need to get to my feet. I positioned the angle of the boosters so that it would make me stand upright. I activated it, and tried to keep my body straight. I only needed one tiny burst to propel me into a standing up position. I landed, and immediately clutched my stomach. Blood had dripped down the left leg of my power suit. I felt queasy. A sensation that could only be described as dagger-sharp pain immediately went down my thighs and up my stomach. I gasped and nearly lost my balance.

But I was up. That's good enough. I took a couple steps forward, it hurt when I stepped forward with my left leg. I took off the non-blaster arm of my power suit to expose the sleeve of my zero suit. I used the side of the metal slab (the one that had been impaled into me) that wasn't stained with blood to cut off some of the fabric off my zero suit, to make a bandage for my stomach. I managed to loop the stretch of fabric around my stomach and tied it so that it covered the wound tightly. Wounds like this hurt, but immediately it felt better to have a bandage covering it. I continued walking, slowly but surely, towards a part of the arena that was so heavily damaged, the entire side of the walls was obliterated. Once I reached it, I took a perch on top of a pile of rubble to look around. It looked like featureless grassy plains extended into the horizon, with the arena I was standing in being the only thing in my surroundings. There was a staircase leading down to the grassy area below, conveniently. I turned my suit to low-power mode to conserve as much energy as possible. Before I started descending the stairs, I noticed something. I spotted an area with some grass missing, in a pattern. Not just any pattern, there was a message, written with the negative space where the grass should be, on the ground. It read: "This way", with an arrow leading straight out to who knows where. It must be a message from Master Hand trying to show me a way out! That cheered me up, and I began to make my way down. I Followed the arrow out to the field. It was pretty quiet. All I could hear was the sound of crickets. My suit informed me that it was early in the evening.

I continued walking for about fifteen minutes, and I stopped to look behind me. I could still see the arena from where I had come. I hoped I was getting close, I had just under forty minutes of energy left. But as I continued to walk, I noticed something. When I turned around to look at the Arena again, I couldn't see it. I realized it was getting kind of foggy. In fact, the further I went, the foggier it got. What's going on? After another minute of walking, visibility had reduced significantly. I began to feel uneasy and paranoid. Something was wrong. If MH was trying to lead me out of here, why would he make the portal so far? I had the feeling I was being watched, and I began to guess why. MH would not have made those tacos fall, and try to kill us with smart bombs. He likes to have us fighters do some challenging things sometimes, but he has never tried to outright kill us. Somebody else somehow had gained control, at least for a brief time, of the main computer. The matches that happened in the multiverse were all controlled with a massive supercomputer that was nearly impossible to hack into. I wondered if whoever took control of it was watching me now. But why would somebody do that? Maybe they were kidnapping me in this unused stage to ask for a ransom? I wasn't sure. I decided that it would be worth it to use some of my suit's energy to scan the area, for clues. It would take five minutes of energy, but I figured I should. Surprisingly, my suit detected an energy signature separate from my own, but it could not pinpoint its exact location, what surprised me the most is that it estimated that the anomaly was fairly close to me. I took a look around, but I could only see twenty meters in any direction at this point.

"Oh crap." I realized that by turning around, I had lost track of which direction I was facing in the first place. I panicked for a second. But then I calmed down, and turned my gaze downward to try to see where my footprints had come from. But when I did, a voice startled me.

"So, you know I'm here, Samus? Took you a while." A confident and masculine voice rang out. I turned in the direction I thought I heard it come from. The voice had been gruff, calculated, and arrogant sounding at the same time.. also... familiar?

"who the hell is there? Tell me what's going on!" I demanded.

"You still haven't changed a bit Samus, rude as ever... that's not a way to greet... an old friend."

I whirled around, as I had heard the voice behind me, despite the fact that just a second ago, I had heard the same voice from the opposite direction. What's odd was that I had heard no signs of movement. Perhaps there were more than one persons around me? But my suit had only detected one energy reading!

"Oh, I'm the rude one? You didn't even answer my question." I growled. I felt annoyed and somewhat threatened by this voice. Baaaaad vibes maaan, baaad vibes. To my surprise the person belonging to the voice revealed himself. A body walked towards me from deeper into the fog. He was about my height, fairly lean, and muscular. As he got closer, I could make out details. He wore a military stealth suit, with a holstered pistol. He had a scruffy look to him, with brown hair and stubble that almost qualified as a proper beard. His suit was laden with different equipment and ammunition. His fierce eyes regarded me bitterly.

"Hey Samus."

"Snake... thought they kicked your fat A- out." I responded with equal distaste. We were rivals back a season.

"Heh. Don't worry Samus, I'll be here next season, and my ass will be even fatter." Snake snapped back.

(LMAO at all those weird people who for some reason think its necessary to point out that snake's rear is smaller in ultimate... just... just why?)

"Ugh. I haven't seen you since last season and I'm already sick of you. I see why they gave you the boot. I assume it was you whose responsible for the taco incident. Obviously I'm very f-king amused." I sighed

"Look at you, smarty. I thought it was hilarious myself. Yea I was pretty pi-ed when they told me I wasn't coming back. I had some fun last season, I'd say I did pretty well if I say so myself." Snake laughed

"What? you mean hiding in those damn boxes with your remote activate bombs? Fight like a man, bi-h!" He was really making me mad now.

"That's funny, coming from the great Spamus herself."

That's it. Rage time. I lifted my arm cannon and let loose a missile. Snake dodged out of the way of the missile just in time, and disappeared into the fog. I wouldn't see him, but then again, if I moved, neither would he see me. I set off walking as fast as my injured body would allow in a random direction, as quietly as I could. Good thing that last battle had ended so soon, at least I had some energy left to fight snake. But it wouldn't be easy, that's for damn sure.

Good. I liked it better that way.

Phew, all done with this chapter. I'll try to keep it coning faster from now on. Leave another review! If you like my stuff, don't just read it, favorite it!

-Solo disappears, ninja style!


	7. Chapter 7: Samus vs Snake

You heard it here first, Sakurai has lost his mind. All the work he is doing for ultimate must be stressing him out... let's review what he showcased in the last direct...

He slaughtered most of the roster with lasers things from space...

...and he gave us a man-eating potted plant as a new character. o_0

Not that I'm complaining! I'm looking forward to the upcoming game.

Anyway, we're getting to the juicy part of the story. Not that I have that much of a plan in advance, when I write, I just figure things out on the way, that's my writing style. However, I always have a general theme or idea, and we haven't even touched on that yet. But trust me, it's good.

however, It's getting harder and harder to think of vine quotes, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel. In fact, I thought I could post a story on a Wednesday just so I could exploit the "Its Wednesday my dudes! AAAAAAAAUUUUEEEEHGHGFRBGKAQWEGBAABGBIEBGARBAERG^^%&^$%E" line, but that would be a cheap shot. Sorry I've been posting more infrequently, I promise I'll get back to being more frequent, but it would help if I could get some more reviews. I need feedback to motivate me! Please don't make me beg!

Okay, without further ado, please enjoy...

Aran: Chapter 7

I take it back.

I wasn't enjoying this fight at all. After I took off, I lost track of the direction that I had been walking in the first place. I couldn't see my surroundings except for the ground underneath. Normally, I would have tried to mark the spot and direction so I could find my way again. but it would have been pointless, as it was simply unlikely that I could've found the same spot again anyway. That's how foggy it was. Regardless, I knew I needed to find Snake again. This was pretty typical behavior for him. He would always play pranks on us last season. But I think dropping tacos filled with bombs on us is a bit extreme. Authentic Mexican cuisine and weapons of destruction should NOT go together, just sayin'.

I slowed my pace and listened. I didn't bother using my sensors, something was preventing my scanner from working correctly. No doubt Snake had brought a new piece of tech along to make sure of that. However, I dialed up my audio sensors, and listened hard. I could just barely make out the sound of footsteps. I stopped in my tracks, and the sound stopped. Then I took off on the fastest jog I could manage with my injury, which wasn't very fast. The footsteps began again, seeming to mirror my movement judging from how it sounded. He could see me somehow. Probably within sixty feet. I could see less than forty in any direction. I had to figure out where he was. I turned ninety degrees to my left, and the footsteps seemed to be getting softer for a little bit. Okay, he's not that direction... I turned one hundred eighty degrees, and the footsteps got louder for just a moment. Snake was trying to keep a constant distance between me and him. I tried adjusting my direction A few more times, making a few calculations with my suits built-in computer. Then I continued walking for another ten seconds.

ten...

nine...

eight...

seven...

six...

five...

four...

three...

Two...

one- I raised my cannon arm and fired a small spread of five shots, covering a fifteen degree slice of the exact angle I guessed he was at.

My audio sensors picked up a grunt of pain. This was my chance, if Snake really had hacked the system, he was my ticket out of here. I jogged forward, ignoring the pain in my stomach, which had just started to dull down a bit, to get to him in time. But he was still faster. I actually saw him for a split second, grasping his shoulder, before he ran out of my field of view. I started firing again, but I think I missed. Half a minute later, I heard a voice:

"Not bad, Samus. But now it's my turn." Came a confident taunt from deeper into the fog. What I heard next made my heart skip a beat.

 _clink_ it was the sound of Snake pulling the pin on a grenade.

I backtracked a bit to put as much distance between me and snake as possible. One second later a small black object landed only about twenty feet from me.

I had three seconds...

3...

I turned in the opposite direction

2...

I again forced myself to jog a little

1...

I quickly lowered myself to the ground, covering my head and turning down my audio sensors...

Nothing...?

I got painfully back to my feet, and began to walk back in the direction I think I was just a moment ago, but I tried not to get too close in case the object he threw was a kind of explosive that has a longer delay or is remotely activated. I kept walking for a bit, and once I was at a distance from the approximate spot I remembered the object landing at was, I turned my audio sensors back up. I heard nothing. Apparently he threw a dud or something just so he could get away. That's Snake's general game plan. He prefers to fight when he has an advantage, and always deploys stealth tactics. I decided to try scanning again to see if I could find a way out. My scans gave me no clue of snakes location, but instead came up with the same results as earlier, some energy reading close by, back in the direction of where I had first encountered Snake. My scanner indicated the direction I was to go. I hesitated, still worrying about the object Snake threw towards me earlier, but I had no choice. There was nowhere else to go, and my energy levels were still going down, even more so because of the damage to my suit.

Surprisingly, when I arrived, I saw what I had been hoping for. A portal had appeared, along with a message, written in glowing 3D letters floating above the portal. It read:

"Smash Manor has been compromised, please take this portal, the others are waiting. Snake was responsible for the attack. -MH"

Looks like MH knew Snake was behind this also. I was getting sick of this place so I stepped into the portal immediately...

the teleportation process was even worse than last time. At first my eyesight went blurry, and all I could see were colors, and images and shapes I didn't recognize. My stomach felt queasy and I had a hard time breathing for a few seconds, then my eyesight cleared. It looked like I was staring at multiple images of a glaring yellow reptilian eye. A cold, dead feeling made my skin crawl.

"You... you took everything from me. My home... my parents..."

"Oh... but I took more than you think I did... maybe I should remind you, Samus." Came a taunting voice from my innermost subconscious mind.

"No, don't take me back there!" but there wasn't much I could do. The never-forgotten image of a burning city on a faraway planet came into focus. My surroundings seemed enlarged, and  
I felt closer to the ground. I came to the realization that I was in a burning building. The heat stung my skin, and my eyes watered from the smoke. Behind me, an inferno enveloped the room I was to escape. Only a small pocket of space wasn't alight, which miraculously included a window. Feeling my life was in danger all over again, I unlatched and opened the window. I was on the first floor, so it was safe to exit. Immediately, I felt relief as fresh air filled my lungs. I lost my balance and fell the rest of the way out of the window, landing on my back, facing upwards. The flames hadn't reached the second floor yet, there was hope. Even at that time, I still understood that he was in danger, and I needed to get help. I began to shout, but nobody could hear. The sound of the fire, and building collapsing in the distance overwhelmed my tiny voice. In fact, I heard another sound, a flapping of large wings, behind me. What kind of bird could be big enough to make that sort of sound?

Hey guys sorry I haven't posted in a while. School has kept me busy, but I might have some extra time. Expect at least chapter or two before the 14th, and lots more around Christmas time, I have three weeks off. Make sure to leave a review, and give me ideas for future stories. Favorite and follow if you are enjoying it so far, it will only get better from here on out.


	8. Chapter 8: At least there's starbucks?

11/29/18 I just posted Ch 7, figured I would start 8. Let's just say something kind of depressing happened recently, I lost a friendship with someone I cared about. It was my fault, let's just keep it to that. Let me give you all some advice: Never take your friends for granted, treat them how you want to be treated, and remember to think about how they feel before you act. Don't be like me.

That aside, I'm pumped for the new Smash Bros. I am hoping to get it over Christmas break. I won't be getting it the first day its out, I have only gotten two games the first day they came out, one was breath of the wild, and the other was Pokémon ultra moon. I'm usually behind on video game stuff, how do people keep up with the video game industry? I'm ADHD and I can't keep up with it lol. I still haven't beaten ultra moon! I like the game though, and the new Pokemon and features. Still love the story. Anyway, back to my story. Samus just found the portal out of the area she was in. If you guys know what the place is from the last couple of chapters, please leave that in a review! Seriously, I've gotten one review, and this story has been up since September. I need feedback! Oh, and I might take a break from my tradition of quoting vines in every chapter until I can find some new material...

By the way, review if you want me to do a fanfic on the upcoming smash. This one is for smash 4, but I kinda want to do an ultimate fanfic to fuel the HYPE. Okay enough finding reasons to beg for reviews...

12/17/18 I'm finishing this chapter now, I see I got a favorite! Hooray, my first favorite! -blows on one those those little noisemaker things they have at birthday partys lol- to the person who favorited, do you want a little thank you shoutout? If you do, send some sort of message or however people communicate on this site. Little note here, I'm waiting for Christmas to possibly get smash ultimate, and then ill buy a switch. Looking forward to it.

Then everything went white.

No, this wasn't part of my portal-induced-LSD-trip-slash-flashback-thing, when I came out the other end of the portal, I did a facedive straight into a bank of snow. Or at least that's what I realized after I got up to my feet and shook off the snow from my face. It had gotten colder here since the battle. MH probably programmed that for holiday spirit purposes. I began with my totally necessary swearing routine until-

"Samus! There are CHILDREN watching!" Came a familiar voice.

"Lucy!" A rare glimmer of happiness made me obliged to smile for a brief moment as I greeted my new friend and roomie.

"Hey Sammy, we were pretty worried about you" Lucina have me a hand.

"We should all sue the sh- out of Snake, THEN kill him." I growled, my brief moment of joy ending abruptly.

"Good idea, better to squeeze some money out of him before we do him in. Gonna be expensive to handle the repairs." Lucina commented.

"Repairs?" I asked nervously. I wasn't expecting any actual damage to the manor itself. The bombs went on inside a simulation. But then Lucina pointed in the direction of the manor.

"A moment after your match was interrupted by tacopacolypse, all hell broke loose. The mii fighters started becoming violent, as well as those old wire frames we kept in the basement, even some spare ROB units joined in and trashed the place. It was like the communist revolution all over again!" Lucina explained, pointing to the damaged mansion.

"No, the Russian communist revolution was more like a coup d' tat." I reminded her. (If you want a history and political science lesson please let me know :3)

I had never seen the place looking like that. Little chunks of the manor were blown out, a quarter of the windows were cracked or missing, and burn marks blackened the walls here and there.

"Holy fried squid livers, what happened here?" Gimme a break, I'm hungry.

"Forget that, what happened to you?!" Lucina gasped, noticing my injury.

"Apparently MH didn't pull me out quick enough, bit of the stage got me. I can walk."

Lucina nodded "Let's get you to the medical office. Luckily most of that in intact. The Mario bros and others are getting the place patched up. some parts of the roof caved in, so the uppermost floor is uninhabitable, but it's being repaired."

"Poyo!"

I looked down.

"Well hello there little pink marshmallow."

Kirby started doing the kirby dance.

Lucina smiled and asked: "Hello Kirby, do you have something for me?"

Kirby Handed her a sheet of paper. Lucina put on her reading glasses, said a couple of "uh-huh", and "mmhmm"s, and then reported:

"Well, the medical office is intact, as well as the bowling alley... oh... looks like DK's banana-and-neck-ties hoard burned up, might want to avoid him for a couple days- AH, the starbucks is fine. SCORE! I'll walk you to the office and ill get us some coffee." Lucy knows how to make a horrible day go slightly better.

"Sounds like a plan." Lucy, Kirby, and I set out for the medical office. On the way, I inspected the damage. It was a sad scene. It looked like the fighters were still recovering form the attack. All over, I could see defeated mii fighters laying around, as well as parts of robs scattered about. I wondered if mii fighters ever truly die. They were just laying on the ground motionless, with their eyes open, with a lifeless blank stare. Snake must have hacked into them via the main computer, and programmed them to become hostile. I wondered why Snake went to such trouble. Maybe he was just showing off, and thinking Master Hand will let him rejoin smash if he shows what he's capable of. Whatever the motive, he caused a lot of damage. A few fighters walked by. Olimar was nursing a broken leg, and had to use duct tape to repair his little space helmet. His pikmin were helping him. Next I saw yoshi with a black eye and one arm in a cast. I didn't feel bad for him. That tax fraud committing b_H of a dinosaur. Then a tall woman wearing glasses and a... questionable sense of fashion, although I do approve of the pistols strapped to her shoes, and black wings strolled by. She was completely uninjured somehow. Even link, who very rarely lost a match, even against Mario, was limping a bit and had a few cuts. He looked distressed.

"Hey Lucy, whowuzzat? Why ain't she hurt? Did she even help fight the miis?"

"Oh... her. Yea... you could say she fought. More like she slaughtered them. That lady scares me." Lucina's eyes grew a bit wider.

"Next match, I wanna fight her!" I growled.

"Hold your horses, cowgirl. There ain't gonna be matches for a while until we get this place looking nice and...' smash brothers-y' again. Besides, there's still fighters missing." Lucy looked worried.

"First of all, horses are such an outdated form of transportation. Second, who's missing?" I asked.

"Well, Mario and one of the newcomers, Mega Man, (I just bought my brother Mega Man 11 today as a Christmas gift. SSSSSHHHH don't tell him!) left to go find Snake. At least we know where they are, but some of them are totally MIA. We don't know where jigglypuff, the duck hunt dog, game-and-watch, Toon Link, Zelda, bowser jr., and Pit are at."

"So basically all the weaker characters". I grunted. Well, I thought, maybe toon link isn't that weak. Game-and-watch occasionally pulls a few interesting tricks out of his hat. Pit... for all his bragging about killing a god, is pretty much a wimp, if you know how to exploit his weaknesses... I probably woulda' beat him up up good had our battle not been interrupted. (This is me as a Pit main being completely cynical about Pit being a mediocre character, hopefully this will change next game? For those who have the game, tell me if he is any good or not, I need to know!)

"Hey that's not nice!" Lucina scolded me. "Actually, we were hoping you would know where Pit went, since you two disappeared at the same time."

"Nah, I didn't see him after I disappeared. I did see Snake though. I think I kinda shot him, he got away though."

"Okay, we're gonna need to find all of them before the competition resumes. We need to patch you up too, Sammy."

There was rubble and debris strewn all over, so Lucina had to help kick some out of the way to make it easier for me. After fifteen minutes, we finally reached the medical office. The door was propped open. There wasn't much need to close it, as people were going in and out, fetching things for the injured. Inside, I could see all of the rest of the Fire Emblem crew among the injured. Lucina rushed over to Marth, who's sword arm was broken, and had suffered a deep cut across the torso from a duel with multiple mii swordfighters. Peach had taken over for Mario to oversee the medical office. She helped me on a bed.

"Sup princess. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure I gave Snake an ouchie too."

Peach smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm just peachy." I grumbled back.

Woop, sounds like my laundry is finally done and I can get some sleep. I'll end it there! I wanted to show some interaction with other characters this chapter, and I just had to mention the Yoshi Tax fraud thing. DO YOUR TAXES HONESTLY LADIES AND GENTS! Thank you. I kinda just threw together this chapter, I'll be updating and revising as I go, so reread chapters later, I've already done that for some of the earlier ones. If there's typos in my writing, sorry, I'm doing my best to get some chapters out! I'll fix it later.


	9. Chapter 9: Merry Christmas, Sammy!

Merry Christmas everyone. I said I'd do a chapter before xmas. Well technically its past midnight for me so does that mean I missed my deadline? Haha. Oh well, I'm making this chapter as a special Christmas gift to you all. But first, you're going to have to tolerate my Christian propaganda.

Let's all take a moment here to remember the "true meaning of Christmas", while that sounds cliche, It's worth talking about, in fact, it's very important. Christmas isn't about the gifts, and it's not about some fat creepy dude who supposedly breaks into people's houses overnight to supposedly deliver gifts. It's not even just about family. It's about a very special person who was born over two thousand years ago. This special baby was born to Joseph and Mary, and his name was Jesus. Jesus was very special, he was sent directly by god to be the only human being ever to live a life without committing a single evil, sinful, spiteful, or dishonest act, to live a perfect life that we would not. Don't get me wrong, Jesus was tempted many times to do dark things, but by relying on the words and guidance of god and the bible, he stayed true to his purpose, and never sinned. In the end, he sacrificed himself for our misdeeds to give us a way to heaven. He lived a perfect life, and took upon the punishment that we deserved so that we could be with god in heaven. That is what this holiday is about, its to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our saviour. He decided to take the ultimate sacrifice for us, knowing full well all that we would do. I've heard that is Jesus were only able to save one person's soul, he would have made the sacrifice still. That is how much he cares. So tomorrow, while its easy to get caught up in all the gifts and friends and family, remember to put aside some time to celebrate Jesus for who he was as a person, and what he did for us.

That said...

Also, don't forget to enjoy smash ultimate! I know there's gonna be a lot of people getting ultimate as a Christmas gift. It's on my list, and I decided to wait until after Christmas to get a switch, as its common for me to receive a gamestop gift card for Christmas and that will make buying a switch way easier. I'm pretty excited, its likely that tomorrow will be my first time to get to play it! But I know a lot of you are in the same boat as me, so have fun!

(does my best TV voice) Now back to our regularly scheduled program!

"Merry Christmas, Sammy." I opened my eyes, and looked up to see my blue-haired new best friend offering me a delicious starbucks coffee.

"Oh thank god... I could use a coffee right now... I forgot it was Christmas."

"Heh. Yea... our Christmas tree kinda burned down. Butt villager put his axe swinging skills to use in something other than axe-murdering innocent people, and chopped us a new one fresh from the Forrest." Lucina joked.

Most people... and by most people I mean the people I would refer to as "normies" would have to wait a few for their coffee to cool down. Not this lady. I've been sipping away at steaming hot coffee for as long as I can remember. So my mouth was used to the heat. Either that, or I had just burned away any feeling in my mouth and was now numb to the heat of a fresh coffee. I wasn't quite sure which. But the coffee helped boost my spirits. The events of the past day or two came back to me fully. I had just awoken on Christmas morning. There were still many holes in the siding of the manor that hadn't been patched yet, so it was drafty. It must be fairly cold out there, but not a hint of snow. My wound was freshly bandaged, and a few layers of blankets were keeping me warm. There was a tray of food laying beside me. The best thing about hospitals is that they always give you orange juice for the vitamin C. It was no different here. Ah... they even gave me a Christmas-colored straw. The other occupants of the medical office had also awoken. Despite the circumstances, it still felt a little bit festive. Apparently, MH had prepared some gifts to help raise people's spirits, and I noticed a box on the floor next to me. Lucina noticed where I was looking and picked it up for me.

"Oh yes, MH bought this for ya."

"Cool. Wonder what it is." I shook the box a little, and heard something shifting inside. It wasn't terribly heavy, but it had some weight to it. It was a medium sized gift, not big, not small.

"Aren't you gonna sniff it? That's what I do when I'm trying to guess what's inside my gifts." Lucina suggested.

I gave her my best "are you nuts!?" look, and began tearing open the wrapping paper. Underneath the wrapping paper, I found it to be a white colored cardboard box, the kind that clothing stores often put shoes in. My heart skipped a beat. I recognized the brand. I knew right away that these weren't gonna be your everyday kinda shoes. I opened the box, and tossed aside the filler paper to reveal a pair of high heels. However, as I had predicted, they weren't your average high heels. Not only were they stylish, they were equipped with min-jet boosters that were powerful enough to propel a human being into the air. Master Hand always gets the best gifts, and these were at the top of my list. They were the newest model of jet booster high heels. Just what any adventurous and stylish space warrior lady would want. I admit, I might have let out a small squeal of delight.

"I take it that means you like it?" Lucina asked.

"I love it! Tell MH I said thanks, and that I'll wear them later during matches, if we get the games up and running again, anyway."

"Sure thing, actually, I think he wanted to speak to you personally. He told me to let him know when you were up so he could visit."

"That's fine, but I want to come to him. I can walk, I can walk. What, you think this is the worst that's happened to me? Just gimme a hand if you will." I reassured her when she looked a bit worried, but she helped me up, and we walked to MH's office. On his door hung photos of his many pet cats. Yea, MH probably wouldn't strike you as a cat person at first. After all, he is simply a giant disembodied, white gloved hand. Behind me, I could hear crazy hand chasing people around with fire extinguishers shouting something about wanting to "santatize" them. Don't ask me what that's about. I knocked on the door exactly seven times is a very particular pattern so that he would know it was me.

"Ah, good morning Samus, come on in, I was just about to feed little Mr. cuttlefarts."

Oh dear god, did he name one of his cats that!?

"Erm, okay."

Lucina opened the door for me and helped me into a chair opposite to MH, who had his... erm... back...? faced away from me, feeding a tiny little black and white cat some meow mix. (NOT SPONSORED!) I also noticed Lady P was there too, wearing a festive Santa hat and sipping some wine. Despite looking festive in her Santa hat, she looked kinda down. I knew why, of course. I cast her an apologetic look.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Samus. Now, I just wanted to hear about what happened to you when you disappeared, if you would please. Care for some red wine?"

"Yes please." I told MH all about my little... can you call it an adventure? Meh... all of my "adventures" never end up going as smoothly as I would like, so I guess I might as well. Occasionally, MH would use one of his fingers to scratch his... I think that would be his head, curiously. He seemed ill at ease.

"Good heavens, you were teleported to that place? Yes... that was where we had... er... tried to have our opening match last year. It was going so well too, Mario and Kirby were both putting on a splendid show... until those subspace fellows showed up and blew up the place. Never got around to restoring that arena, but I might someday. Might make a good stage if I could clean it up a bit. I really meant to send you somewhere else, but it seems as if Snake has gained partial control over the Smash multiverse. In have Mega Man trying to counterhack him right as I speak. It's quite... er... handy, no hand-related pun intended... to have a literal computer program around as a fighter. He's solved all of our computer problems so far. He should be able to keep Snake form totally controlling all of the computer's main functions. So you actually fought with Snake personally?" Master hand asked.

"Yes. He's gotten even better. He managed to escape, I might have injured him somewhat, I felt like I had to. I figured he had hostile intentions. Hacking and causing explosions isn't exactly friendly behavior."

"Yes. he caused quite a bit of damage. Thank you for telling me what happened... did you like your gift? We are still trying to celebrate the holiday, even given how serious the situation is here."

"Thanks MH, I'll put em to good use." I put my feet up on the table to show I was wearing them already."

MH smiled, or at least I think he would have, if he had a face to smile with...

"Do have a merry Christmas, Samus." Master hand bade me goodbye, but Lady P sucked in the last bit of wine, she had been drinking then magically refilling it the whole time. I know I only drink that much when I'm worried or stressed. She followed me out the door, and approached me.

"Samus... are you sure you have no clue-"

"No. I'm sorry Lady P. He's my friend too. But I don't know what happened to him. Don't worry though. I heard people are already looking for the missing fighters." I gestured to Lucina to give us some privacy, and she left, probably to go back to the medical office and visit Marth again. "Listen, Lady P. I'm gonna let this heal up a bit... see what I can do to repair my suit... ask around for some leads... and I'll go look for 'im."

Lady P suddenly perked up a bit "Oh you will?"

"Promise. We never finished the match, right? Plus... our new Christmas tree is missing an angel, last year we played a prank on him and tied him to the top of our Christmas tree, I'd like to do it again this year."

We exchanged mischievous looks.

"I would kick a kick out of that too. Thanks, Samus."

Haha! That's a wrap. By the way, there's so many little details I've been putting into this fanfic so far that proabably don't make much sense to some people. Like for example, in this chapter, how Samus knocks on MH's door exactly seven times in a certain pattern. I put that in there for fun, because that's exactly what I do when I knock on my middle older brother's door. (im the youngest of three bros.) I'll knock six times, then bash my head against the door on the seventh knock, so its extra loud. It gets his attention.

Alright guys, I've noticed that a decent amount of people are at least reading my story. I'm very pleased to see that. I intend to keep this story going. But I have other ideas. I have a few little things brewing in there. I kinda wanna make a smash ultimate fanfic, but this one is supposed to be a smash 4 fanfic, so maybe I'll start a new one, and I'm thinking of making non-smash fanfics too. Stay tuned, I might turn out to be a decent fanfic writer dude. But tell me how I'm doing. Haven't gotten a lot of feedback so far. I'd appreciate some. Its now 2:55 on Christmas eve night. I should get some rest, big day tomorrow.


	10. Chapter 10: Mayday! Nvm its January

Guys... I think I broke smash... I've just finished with laughing my ass off, I just beat two level six CPUs (one ryu, and one ZSS, and unlocked greninja) by spamming K rools down tilt. He does a big ol stomp and its pretty fun to spam. This was my first time using him too. Though id give him a try, he's fun to play as. Almost makes me wanna replace floor-ice-cream-boy with him as my main... naaaaah. Once a pit main, forever a pit main. If you guys don't beleive me abotu the L rool foot stomping business, I have two replays to prove it, I might make a youtube channel at some point JUST to post those replays. They are hilarious.

Good news! Somebody just sent me a message inquiring if I can take a request, I responded, but I was late in responding to the message. If this person replies back with specifics, I intend on granting the request, unless this person asks me to do a romantic fanfiction between Bowser and the duck hunt dog. Then I will have to abstain in the name of decency. Nobody wants that. Well, now that you all have THAT lovely image in your minds, let us begin our tenth chapter! -throws confetti-

This time, I insisted we travel by other means than portals. I had peach give me some pills from Mario- sorry "Dr. Mario's" stash. Seriously, dumba- thinks he can put on a lab coat and chuck pills at people and call himself a doctor. Pretty sure there's a bit more involved there. So yea... I don't think putting faith into his pills is a good idea. Plus... personally, I prefer the air.

"We're not far from the coordinates." I muttered sleepily. Spaceship piloting isn't as complicated as it looks. Basically flies itself. I'm sure even smarty-pants Mario could figure it out. I had time to do my nails and take a nap. Didn't even have a nightmare.

"How come you know where he is already?" Fox seemed impressed. It takes a lot to impress Fox. He was the champ back in the second season, and he doesn't let anyone forget it. He's one of those guys who brings up "those good old days" all the time, and always complains Master Hand made the last season too slow-paced for him.

"This is what I do for a living, furry. I'm a bounty hunter remember?" making fun of fox is one of my top favorite pastimes.

"Yea, yea. Stop callin' me furry, Sammy." Fox retorted.

"You tryin to start somethin, foxyboy?" I yawned.

"Hey! That's even wor- SAMUS YOU GOT A BOGEY ON YOUR SIX!"

The obnoxious "BLEEP BLEEP BLOOP" of my sensors, and the fact that the entire ship rocked violently confirmed this in a very unhelpful manner. Sadly, I didn't even have time to run through my swearing routine.

"FOX, GET THAT MOTHERTRUCKER OFF ME!" I quite literally punched my control panel in frustration, putting my ship through its evasive manuevers.

"Why do I have to do all the work, you got a ship too, Samus." Fox snorted, but he was already changing course to pursue my pursuer.

"Kiddin' me, fluffy?!" This peice of s-t crashes every new Metroid game! You got a flippin Arwing! Better hurry, I'm takin' a lotta hits!"

"Fourth Wall, Samus!. I'm on it, meanwhile-" I knew what he was about to advise me, and I beat him to the punch.

"DO A BARREL ROLL!" I screamed maniacally as I yanked the control stick around. Don't worry, I have gieco. I saved 15% on spaceship insurance.

"I got a shot lined up on him real soon, keep it up Samus!"

However, a different voice responded before I could.

"Can't let you do that, Star Fox!"

"Oh s-t" Me and Fox muttered in unison."

BANG! CRREEEEEEAAAAK! My ship took another volley, it musta hit somethin' kinda important, because the ship's readout notified me that I was rapidly losing altitude.

"Fox! I'm goin' down!"

I heard fox swear over the intercom.

"Okay, Samus... increase your speed."

"WHAT! Why would I want to do that! I'll lose altitude faster!"

"I have a plan!"

"I'm supposed to be sentient species here..." I grumbled, but took his advice anyway, kicking the throttle forward. My one good day, ruined. Ships cost a lot these days, doubt that green lizard is gonna cover it all. I checked my sensors, and found that fox had landed a hit on wolf's engines, slowing it down. He had increased speed, and on an intercept course with my vessel.

"Preparing to deploy grappling hook. Hold tight, Sammy." Fox reported in a strangely calm voice. No really, when somebody tells me their crazy suicide plan in a calm voice, it totally helps.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND FUZZY?"

"Fuzzy huh, that's a new one. THERE!"

CLANG! Color me impressed, that non-primate-son-of-a-b-ch did it. He had attached grappling hooks to the hull of my ship, he was able to slow my ship's descent a bit.

"Samus, your too heavy!"

"EXCUSE ME!?" I shouted, majorly offended.

"I mean your ship, calm down. Actually panic, because we're gonna have to do a controlled crash landing."

"What!?" I wasn't even ticked anymore, I was actually fearing for my life. I could see the surface below up, appearing to get closer by the second. Our speed was still way too fast to land in a safe manner. Is aid my prayers. "FOX, Y'KNOW PAL, AS MUCH AS I ALWAYS MAKE FUN OF YOU BEING A FOX, I SOMEWHAT SLIGHTLY LIKE YOU AS A PERSON AND YOUR FURR IS ACTUALLY QUITE SOFT!" I blurted without thinking.

"SAMUS, I ADMIT YOU'RE KINDA COOL TOO. ALSO I HAVE A CIONFESSION TO MAKE, SOMETHIN' I WANNA GET OFF MY CHEST BEFORE I MEET MY MAKER!"

"WAZZAT BUDDY?"

"I SECRETLY SNUCK A BOM-OMB INTO THE GAME TWO SEASONS AGO, USED IT IN A MATCH AGAINST BOWSER, MIGHT HAVE SLIGHTLY AFFECTED THE OUTCOME OF THE MATCH!"

Unfortunately, our heart-to-heart talk had to come to an end, as Fox did his best shot at a "controlled crash landing".

Unfortunately, I don't have an onomatopoeia that did justice to the sound of the hull making contact with the ground at high speed, but I'll do my best. SCRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABANG!

The ship came to an abrupt stop, and my dumb-non-seatbelt-secured ass was thrown out of my chair, and I face-planted on the windshield like the graceful bounty hunter I am. The world went fuzzy for a little bit, but I could feel gravity remembering that I belong on the ground, and obliged to make me fall painfully on the metal floor of my miraculously still-sorta-intact ship headfirst.

I couldn't even hear the sound of the carnage around me anymore. The last explosion had temporarily deafened me, and my ears were ringing. I didn't want to get up. But after a few seconds, I somehow found the will to prop myself up on my arms in a sphinx position. I had risen just in time to see something that made my heart stop. Perched on the still-burning remains of what used to be my home, the most indescribable monstrosity seemed to be staring directly at me. He stood what seemed like twenty feet tall. His form looked almost skeletal, scaly and purple. Lizardlike. Eyes like a Snake. His tail wasn't like a spear, it was a spear. It wasn't just his imposing size and appearance that made me react this way, it was what he carried in his clawed hand. At this age, it was one of the few things I could recognize... I was just old enough at the time to know how to scream-

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

He almost seemed to laugh. There was something maliciously intelligent about his snake-like eyes. He gave a few mighty flaps of his dragon wings, and that was the last I saw of both of them, him, and him.

"Samus! Snap out of it! Your alright! I think... C'MON WE DON't HAVE TIME FOR A POWER NAP!"

Fox was shaking me awake. The scene in front of me looked painfully similar to my flashback. The burning wreckage of my ship. But this time, my enemy would be a lot shorter.

"You alright?"

"Yea. Damn pills didn't do s-t though." I grumbled as I got to my feet.

"Look alive, Samus, the bogey is still on your six." Fox pointed behind me, I spun around to see Wolf running at us, brandishing a laser pistol.

Welp, on the bright side, I get to test out my new super-stylish boots that MH got me.

That's all folks. Im gonna start a new system here, dotted lines are the start/finish to a chapter, like this -. solid lines like this _ indicate a scene change, or in this case, Samus's flashback. I seem to have a bad habit of writing these things late at night. Hopefully my tired brain isn't affecting my writing too much, and I haven't been editing what I write before I post. Hopefully it doesn't come out too weird, sorry guys, I'll get to editing the later chapters sometime... maybe. Hehe. I know this chapter is a little confusing, I'll explain more about how Samus got in this situation next chapter. She's having a bit of a rough time in this fanfic. But hey, she's Samus, she can handle it. Just to clarify, I'm NOT into furries, but I felt like making that joke. I'm kinda excited to hear what this request will be, I don't know if it's a request for this fanfic, or to start a separate one, but I am confident that I can pull it off. By the way guys, join the King K rool down-tilt club! Seriosuly, give it a try. Fight a CPU (or if you have a REALLY dumb friend) and see if you can win by spamming down tilt, call it my K rool stompin challenge! Good night, I need some sleep. It's nearly 2:30 am for me, forget doing a spellcheck I'm tired.

P.S. I saw the movie "aquaman" today, it was pretty cool. Pretty much your typical modern superhero movie, but it has some really cool scenes. Its worth a trip to the theaters. Don't feel shy on splurging on movie theater popcorn!

-Solo, peacin out.


	11. Chapter 11: Samus and Fox vs Wolf!

Hey everyone, I decided I'm going to put renewed effort into fan fiction, so I'm already starting a new chapter as of today, 1/6/2019. I have a couple announcements to make.

First, I'm in the process of editing, and will be for the foreseeable future. Writing can always be improved, I've made some minor changes to chapter four, I'm editing the chapters in order, so next I'll edit chapter five. Reread chapter four if you want, it's one of my best chapters. In future edits, I might take more time to flesh out past chapters and not just improve the writing, but add to it. Especially as the plot develops, I'm figuring this out as I go. That's kind of how I do writing, I just go with the flow.

Secondly, I will begin writing a new fanfiction story very soon! I've gotten my first request as I mentioned in my last chapter. I think I will leave that as a surprise for now, but I intend to begin writing it perhaps tomorrow if I feel productive enough. Okay, let's begin chapter eleven!

Usually, I prefer fighting alone. This time, I was glad I had fox around. Fox volunteered to help me seek out Snake. I'm guessing Snake would know where Pit ended up. Fox is one of the best we have, and I doubted that only just slightly more after his confession about the bom-omb. He probably would of won that match anyway. This should be easy, two against one.

Then again, I wasn't in the best condition to fight. The physical damage from the crash wasn't too bad. But the coma-induced nightmare had about the same effect as it did the first time. Maybe not as bad, but I was sweating, and I felt more on edge, more nervous. Plus my previous wound was still healing

"PLAY TIMES OVER!" Wolf taunted, much closer to us now. We had been attacked on our way flying across one particular place in the multiverse. It appeared we had arrived in some sort of desert. The air felt dry and hot, kind of reminded me of the laundry room back in the manor. I hate that feeling, always makes my hair all static-y, and itchy. Bleh. However, the air here was a bit drier and hotter. It was early evening, the sun had set not long before.

"Well, if that was play time, this ain't gonna be fun." I muttered. I patched up my armor the best I could, However I hadn't the time to replace the actual electrical components in the area that the suit had been damaged, so some of the suit's functionality had been lost.

Wolf emerged from behind a hill and opened fire. Immediately, Fox got in front of me, activating his reflector. Gotta hand it to the guy, his reflexes were fast. Wolf's pretty fast too, he back flipped behind the sand dune for cover from the reflected shots.

"Thanks, get ready, should be about three seconds, then light him up, I got the left, you got the right. About ten feet."

Fox nodded his understanding. I figured he wouldn't jump over the hill this time, that he would dash out to the left or right and strafe us to get closer, attack, or find new cover. The landscape was quite hilly and he had ample opportunity. The hills surrounded the crashed remains of our ships in a circle formation. we had crashed close to one edge of the circle, wolf was further away, just beyond the far side of the hills.

He came out the left. My shots grazed his shoulder, but he managed to get to a hill closer to us. We were surrounded by steep hills on every side. We wouldn't be the ones to make a move. Then again, he probably didn't feel all motivated to expose himself either. But eventually he was going to make a move to get closer to us. I quickly scanned my surroundings and identified his next likely hiding spot.

"Keep im' busy" I told fox, and keeping my aim on the hill wolf was concealed behind, started shuffling towards the hill.

Wolf must have heard my movement, and he peeked over for a split second, fox laid down suppressing fire, and I ran for the hill. I used my jump boosters to give me a boost over, and a split second later a laser bolt hit the area I was standing at a second ago. I rolled behind the hill, and readied a missile. I was going to flank wolf on the left, while fox began approaching the hill wolf was behind from the front. I had a plan. Wolf bolted away, running along the circumference of the outside edges of the hills further away from me. I popped up behind my cover and launched the rocket, making sure it hit a bit behind him, prompting him to continue. I reversed direction, instead of chasing him around the circle, I directed myself to run in a manner so that I would intercept him. I instructed Fox to pursue him, so we could sandwich him. Beyond the hills there was were tall rock formations that would block him from trying to escape, forcing him to either fight us both attacking from either side, or climb down to where our ships crashed. He chose the latter. He dived over the hill, sliding down on his back and continued to fire on us. However, he could only direct his fire towards one of us. So while he pinned me down, Fox began to pursue him, keeping his reflector up to prevent wolf from firing on him. It would have been more practical to take advantage of the high ground and take him down in a firefight, but this was personal between Fox and Wolf, I knew those two had history, and fox wanted it that way. Close and personal. As good as Fox was with a blaster, it was his hand to hand combat that set him apart from most others. However, Wolf had a headstart, and managed to get behind the wreckage of our ship.

Fox and I approached the wreckage.

"We have you surrounded Wolf, get your fluffy ass out here and we can discuss this is a semi-civilized fashion." I put emphasis on saying SEMI-civilized. I wanted to see if he knew anything about Snake and his exact location, and why he so rudely interrupted my match. The fact that he popped out of nowhere at this time made me suspicious. Plus he and Snake were kind of in the same boat.

"See, civility just ain't my forte. I'm a predator, don't you forget it."

"Well this time, the predator is the prey, and the prey hunts the predator." Fox laughed.

I heard a chuckle from where Wolf's voice came from.

"What's so funny?" Fox asked, a little miffed.

Instead of responding, Wolf let out a howl. One that didn't sound at all human... well that shouldn't be a surprise, he wasn't human. But it was kinda creepy, because it didn't sound like a sound a Wolf would make either. It was loud, sinister, and primal.

"The hell was that about?" I grunted.

"Look!" Fox pointed off to the distance, back towards where Wolf had been positioned originally. In my peripheral vision I saw some massive object crash through the sand towards where Wolf was hiding.

Just barely over all the noise, I could hear Wolf laugh: "We're gonna have fun with this thing!"

Something tells me he's the one who's gonna have all the fun. No fair!

1/13/19

Hey guys. Just got back to school, break's over for me. Don't worry, I will continue writing, and I intend to go through with the request I received recently, but it will take time. I intend to spend more time on chapters from now on, and spend time making the writing of a higher quality. This might make it take longer to post new chapters. Also, I post more during what is evening hours for me. That always seems like the best time to write for me, at night. Night for me is perfect for writing. I always enjoy writing for this fanfic, don't worry it will get much better from here on out. I intend to make a plan for the rest of the plot, as a lot of stuff up until now has been just the exposition, you know introducing the characters and the plot. I had a discussion with a friend, and he told me that he told his fellow anime fan today that watching anime is like eating a fruit, You have to peel it first before you get to eat the yummy stuff inside. I agree with him. You got to get it all set up and explain the story, but you want to take your time for that. When I start a story, I have a tendency to follow the strategy of "en media res" which translates (from Latin, I believe) to "in the middle of the action". I like to begin chapters right in the middle of them doing something in a sudden manner, have you noticed? I've noticed a cliche of many author's beginning their story with the main protagonist waking up from sleeping. I avoid cliches the best I can. More good stuff to come soon, stay tuned, and please leave a review to let me know how you like the story so far, or maybe how you predict the plot will turn out. I said in the beginning that this story was based on a fan theory based on the Metroid game series, but it also involves another game series, if you can call it that. My username is a reference to that theory. That is my hint to you guys.

On a less serious note, I received a private message from some... er... charming lady shall we way? -sarcasm intensifies- by the name of "Lora". Well, that wasn't her full username, but I'll spare you the rest. She requested my number and to have, well let's put it this way, "intimate contact". I hope this isn't normal for this site... but I'm concerned now. I would ask any readers to please refrain from this in the future.

Solo, peacin' the fudge out of here somewhat awkwardly...


	12. Chapter 12: One for the melee fans!

Aran, Chapter 12: Here's one for the Melee fanboy/girls.

-insert authors comments here- Sorry got nothin' right now. :/ I'll let Samus do all the talking.

The earth, or whatever they call this planet, quite literally shook. The large object was soon identified to me as a behemoth of a land vehicle. Heavily armored. It had a futuristically sleek design, and the turret's barrel was absolutely massive. It had emerged seemingly out of nowhere. I've encountered them before in official matches. However, we were currently outside of official smash territory. You see, in official matches, any weapon used has to be inspected by master hand. Any weapon deemed too powerful to use in smash was either banned, or altered to make the matches as fair as possible. Those alterations were not in effect here. In smash, there were certain ways to deal with threats like this. In fact, last season my friend and fellow smash competitor, Pit, whom I am currently searching for, could actually survive a direct volley from a land master's turret by using his magical mirror shield. However, I knew a strategy like that would never work in this scenario. This was a fully functioning military grade tank. I could only imagine what sort of damage it could do. Wolf had summoned it moments before by howling... voice activated tanks... I have a love-hate relationship with technology, I really do.

"TAKE COVER! LANDMASTER!" Fox shouted at me.

I hit the sand, but stayed focused on wolf's hiding spot, laying on my stomach and propping my arm cannon on a mound of sand. The tank drew closer, it was awfully distracting, but I needed to keep my sights on Wolf. He would inevitably dart out of cover to try to get to that tank. I could nail him on the way and save myself a lot of trouble. If he made it in the tank, our chances would be pretty slim. I figured while he could remotely call the tank to come to his current position, there's no way he could remotely fire the turret!

f-k, I was sure wrong about that!

BOOM!

Within the space of a second, blue light emanated from the gun barrel of the tank. A blue pillar of light blasted a crater ten meters in front of me. Sand rained down on me, and I felt the shockwave of the blast. By the time I could see properly again, Wolf was already three quarters of the way to his landmaster. I managed a few desperate shots, fox also joined in. I could see Wolf stumble a bit, but then he leaped right into the cockpit of the tank.

"SPLIT UP!" I shouted on instinct. The tank couldn't pursue both of us. Fox made for the hills behind us, and I doubled back a bit with the intention of circling around the wreckage, hoping to use it as cover between me and the tank. I was counting down in my head, starting after the first shot had landed, so as to gauge approximately the amount of time I had in between shots. I got to thirty seconds before-

BOOOM!

The blast was closer this time, and I fell forward, managing to land in a roll and get right back up. I continued, I was halfway to the wreckage where our ships had crash landed. My suit wasn't well designed for running on soft sand, and it sunk into the ground a bit too much, slowing me down. I turned around suddenly, as I had been preparing a rocket. I took all of two seconds to aim directly at the cockpit, and let loose. I didn't check to see if I hit or not, I continued running. I still heard it moving behind me, so It must not have been a direct hit. I activated my jump boosters just in time, Another shot landed behind me, but I had jumped a good six feet in the air, and it landed about five meters behind me. Still cutting it close. I landed as gracefully as someone who was running for their life from a deadly war machine could.

I heard the buzz of laser shots ring out close overhead. Looks like fox had found cover and was attempting to distract it... not that his dumb little blaster would do much. Even against unarmored people, the worst that thing could do was leave a bit of a painful burn mark. Against a tank, I dunno... might scratch the paint a bit. I swear to god if he hits me I'm gonna make him into a fur coat later. Finally I made it to where Fox's Arwing had crashed. I'm still a bit impressed he managed to land without killing either of us. Fox really was the top pilot in smash. Falco would have killed us for sure, he flies like a lunatic!

BOOOOOOOOM! SCREEEEEEEEEEAAAA!

this time, the crashed ship was hit, I had been leaning over and catching my breath a ways away from the ship, but the thing exploded, a red hot slab of metal slammed into my left shoulder, knocking me down. I hit the ground so hard, my breath knocked out of me and I couldn't even swear from the pain in my shoulder. Today is not my day.

"There goes my ride, I was thinkin' I coulda' maybe got it fixed" Fox sighed. I had linked my helmets mic to his headset, so we could communicate over long distances."

"I'm fine, thanks for being so concerned" I growled at him, dusting off my now badly bruised shoulder. At least it wasn't broken, my suit could take some hard hits.

"I'm pretty sure my ship costs way more than your power suit" Fox commented.

"Ouch, that's cold" I grumbled, already coming up with a backup plan. "Fox, we need to get that tank within... say six meters of my ship." The question was how. If I repeated my last strategy, wolf would just blow up my ship again. Well... I wanted the ship to blow up, it was more of a question of when it blows up. You see, I had installed a self-destruct feature on the ship. My ship has some next-level tech on it, plus a lot of classified data from the Federation I didn't want falling into the wrong hands. Plus... I just love tinkering. I thought at first acquiring the necessary components to make this alteration would be difficult, but surprisingly I found all of them easily on Amazon. I remembered all the pleasant summer weekends back at smash manor, tinkering with my ship while chatting with Zelda and sipping wine. Zelda would watch me curiously as I took apart components of my ship, she would always ask what I was doing, and then listen attentively as I described the inner-working of my ship. It wasn't easy to put it in terms that she would understand, her universe's technology wasn't on the same league. Heck, people in her Universe still get around by horse. Sometimes we would argue which was the better mode of transportation, starships or horses. She would always say that her horse was like a companion to her, a friend. Zelda herself was proficient at horse riding and archery. (Trivia: In the final battle against Ganondorf in twilight princess, Zelda helps by shooting Ganondorf with light arrows on Epona, Link's horse.) I would also counter by saying my ship was like a companion to me as well. My ship's computer was programmed with an advances A.I. that had its own personality. The A.I.'s designer had named her "Elizabeth", but I called her Lizzy. She's kinda sassy every now and then, and she once pulled a prank on me by playing this **awful** music on the speaker once while Zelda was around, it was some dumb-s pop singer or something. What was his name, Justin... blobber? No, that's not right. Blooper? Nope... Beeper? Maybe. I don't recall... Zelda burst out laughing while I shouted "SHUT THE f-K UP LIZZY! TURN THAT OFF!" over the blaring... can I call it music?

The flashback actually kinda made me smirk a bit, until I snapped back to my senses when Fox shouted:

"Samus! Why are you just standing there? WATCH OUT HE'S ABOUT TO FIRE!"

I sighed, remembering I was actually in a life-or-death situation... again. "So you DO care about me, Fox? I'm touched. My plan is to-" I quickly fired a charged shot into the sand close by to create a small crater, then promptly dove into it to take cover from the next volley form the tank. This time I quickly commanded my suit to dim the sound receptors to avoid that awful ear ringing. Ugh, deadly explosions are so bad for your ears! I'll need a hearing aid when I'm an old lady, providing I live that long... "lure it back to my ship, I will activate the self-destruct sequence. That should take care of that tank handily." I continued immediately after getting up after the last shot landed, casually brushing sand off my power suit.

"Okay, how will we do that?"

"I'm sure Wolf is in league with Snake, or he really just hates you and is trying to kill me by crime of association. How about YOU come down here from your comfy little... uh... foxhole you dug for yourself, and get shot at by a tank. Likely he hates you so much, that you will do a better job at luring him to the ship. He won't bother firing at the ship itself, he will be focused on hitting you. We don't want the ship to explode until he is close to it. With any luck, the blast will only disable the tank, Wolf will survive, and we can beat him senselessly for information on Snake. If he isn't in league with Snake, then it doesn't matter anyway, I'm sure nobody will miss him." I explained.

Fox reluctantly consented. He's such a hero. Fox revealed himself from his hiding spot, and almost immediately I could see the tank changed direction, heading straight for him. I could tell Fox had a plan. Have to hand it to him, the plan was insane and suicidal, which is practically a complement in the "save-the-video-gaming-world" business. We do this stuff all the time. Fox charged directly at the tank on an intercept course that would make my ship the midpoint. Wolf's Landmaster went full speed ahead. I conducted a hasty "strategically withdrawal from the field of battle" to the closest in the ring of hills surrounding the valley. Fox was sprinting towards the tank, holding a bom-omb in his right hand, holding it up in the air threateningly as he ran. It was a deadly game of chicken between a massive tank and a small furry and abnormally bipedal mammal, or at least it would seem like it. Wolf probably didn't know what we really had up our sleeves. Surprisingly, Wolf didn't even bother shooting at Fox, perhaps he meant to run him over like roadkill? Watching this scene was like reliving the finals match two seasons ago between Fox and Bowser. I visualized the scene in my head:

Two seasons, and many years ago... They were different times. It was actually the second season of the smash brothers tournament. Things were different back then. The very nature of the battles were different. That particular season retroactively became known as the "melee" season. I'd say a lot of the newcomers are decent. But most of em' are pretty trash. Back in melee, only the best of the pros were allowed in. In subsequent seasons, MH had purposefully slowed the pace of battle to make it more fair for the less experienced, and frankly less skilled newcomers. Melee was different. Melee was as the name implies. It was fast-paced close quarters action. Less gimmicky, cheesey, noob tactics, and more fast paced action that thrilled the fans, and sent a lot of fighters to "Dr." Mario. We REALLY need to find a more qualified medical professional. Anyway, the final round of melee, and especially the last minute or so was probably one of the most intense matches in Smash history. It came down to one stock- to one. Fox and Bowser both had about equivalent damage. In a typical smash match, competitors could feel pain and suffer injuries, but there was a special program installed in the main computer's simulation machine that prevented absolutely fatal injuries. So far, smash has not faced a single causality. Damage was calculated by percentage, starting at zero, going up all the way to 999%. But at most, matches typically didn't go much over 120%. That match, they were both at around 70% in the last minute of the game. A casual and unenlightened observer of the match may have come to the conclusion that Bowser and Fox were pretty much tied. But in reality, Fox at 70%, and Bowser at 70% are two completely different things. Bowser is one of our heaviest fighters, and heaver fighters are less obligated by decree of the laws of physics to get launched. Go figure. Getting launched offstage into "blastzones" was the objective in a typical official smash match. 70%? Yea for Fox, that could be one good hit away from being KOed, especially in the fast-paced unpredictable situation melee was. For Bowser? If Bowser goes on clutch mode, that's practically only half of his stock, if not less. So while their percentages were equal, it was Fox who was nearer to being KOed. I still remember those last few moments of the match. What a scene. Bowser had just launched Fox to the other side of the platform after Fox made one slight miscalculation in his strategy, and he paid dearly for it. Bowser then rushed in for the kill, moving across the stage as fast as a King Koopa whose weight could be calculated nearly in terms of tons could. Fox got up immediately after he landed, as he always does, and produced a bom-omb that he had "found". Of course, I knew that was B.S. now. Fox then charged straight back at Bowser, his deadly explosive in hand. This changed things. A 70% Bowser could still take a pretty hard hit, but the bom-omb has absolutely notorious capability to launch fighters. Many matches were decided prematurely by the use of these cartoonish explosives. Fox, using his impressive strategical brain, had precisely calculated what Bowser's reaction would be, and capitalized on it. To make a long story short, Fox threw the bomb at the right time and direction to hit Bowser, ending his opponent's last stock, thus making Smash history.

I saw the same situation mirrored in front of my eyes. Bowser was that Tank, seemingly going in for the kill on a much small opponent. But, just as in the final round of melee, Fox had a plan. I watched, awaiting to press the button on my right arm's button interface to activate the self-destruct sequence. I had bypassed the self-destructs countdown option, as this task would require to the second, possibly to the split second timing. Just like melee, the scene unfolding didn't take very long, but to me, it seemed as if time had slowed down. Fox gave me the signal by chucking his bom-omb at the tank.

I pressed the button.

"BOOM!"

"aand Fox take's Bowser's last stock, with a well-timed bom-omb throw! Unbelievable! The crowd goes wild!" I echoed the narrator's immediate comments two seasons ago to Fox.

In reply I heard a faint groan.

"Fox, are you alright!?" I questioned, already running to where the explosion took place, and where moments before, my ship had been. I reached that place, and found fox lying face-down a ways away from where the explosion had occurred. His fur looked a bit singed but I'm sure he was okay. I picked him up. I kneeled next to him and poked him.

"nnnghh... Samus... your plan sucked. Now I got sand in my fur!"

"Aaawww, did poor little foxy get his fur all messy? Does Sammy need to give him a bath when we get home?" I taunted him.

"Hey, show some respect for my dignity! Your talkin' to the melee champ here!." Fox smiled at me as he pushed himself back up to a sitting position, brushing sand out of his tail.

We exchanged a somewhat hysterical fit of laughter, partially out of relief, and out of the memory of what happened on that final match. Unfortunately, our touching heart-to-heart moment was interupted by a painfully familiar voice-

"Okay, NOW play time's over!" Wolf lunged at us from the still-freshly burning heap of twisted metal that used to be a Landmaster. Stupid space warrior mammals, they are all so hard to kill! Luckily for me, I happened to fall into that category as well! I casually brought up my still-injured left arm and blocked his claws, which glanced off my power suit's strong metal.

Wolf looked down at his claws, and noticed he was now missing a parts of them. He let out an absolutely ADORABLE little whine that one would normally expect from a domesticated dog.

"I JUST got a manicure, and now it's totally ruined! It's the groomers fault! Nobody knows how to properly sharpen claws anymore! I'm gonna go back and ask for a refund!" Wolf complained.

"Sorry, you'll have to wait on that one, Wolfy, I just got a few quick questions to ask you, if thats alright." I addressed him in a falsely polite and cheery voice, right before I promptly axe kicked his stupid head into the sand, and then tackled him like a pro wrestler, pinning him to the ground. "TELL ME WHAT SNAKE IS UP TO, MOTHERF-ER! I'LL RIP THE REST OF YOUR CLAWS OUT ONE BY ONE!"

"No, please! I just had them painted!" Wolf pleaded.

"The f-?" I was genuinely shocked. I yanked his other hand up to my face to take a look. Sure enough, his claws were painted purple.

"Uhhhm, before I beat you senseless in order to interrogate you about what Snake is up to, explain these..." I asked, completely dumbfounded. Fox had noticed too, and started rolling around on the ground laughing, completely disregarding the fact that he was getting even more sand in his fur.

"Well, you know, this might go against my whole supervillain trope, but claws aren't JUST for killing you know? They're to show off your fashion sense!" Wolf said in attempt to justify his highly questionable fashion statement, but quickly interjected: "Please go easy on me, I will tell you all you want to know, just don't ruin my precious claws! I don't actually think they will refund me for this at the pet spa!"

This prompted Fox to laugh even harder and for me to shake my head in disbelief. "It sure is 2019..." I sighed. "Well, whatever, just tell me what Snake has planned!" I demanded.

"Yes, I am working with Snake. But you're going to want to hear who ELSE is working with us." Wolf's facial expression changed from fearing for his life, to serious. I had an idea he was about to tell me something important.

What he said next... Fox stopped rolling around laughing, and then stared back at Wolf in shock. I lost it and full out punched Wolf in the face, which was quite reckless in retrospect, but the name he mentioned produced so much negative feelings, emotions... memories from within me. I simply couldn't hold back. I'll admit, it didn't help me feel any better, not this time.

12:20 AM, 1/20/19 -Wow. This was quite a chapter. I wanted to do some writing tonight, and decided to finish up this chapter. The last couple of chapters might have confused some readers, but don't worry, things will make more sense as it goes. That last one was kinda short, and I admit it wasn't my best writing. I do my best when I really let myself go, and describe things in more detail. This chapter came out better, and I had a chance to do some backstory on Samus and Fox. I love doing that, it adds more depth that way. Stories that have depth have more of an impact. Or it just clutters the story up with meaningless details. You guys can be the judge on whether I crossed that line or not. Let me know with a review! I finished this at the date and time above, but I think I will choose to post it at a different time in order to post it at a time when more people will view it. As you can see, I ended the chapter on a cliffhanger, but I'm sure that most readers can guess what Wolf just said. Things are heating up.

As for the other fanfic, I'll get to it, but I have to feel in the mood for it first. I am an impulsive person who's creative tendencies are mostly decided by whatever mood I'm feeling. I've been in more of a serious mood recently, and Aran is supposed to be more of a serious story than the new request that I have been asked to fulfill. Yea, I do like to make jokes and humorous references, and funny dialogue. But it is still supposed to be somewhat serious in tone, just with a healthy helping of comic relief.

There is a real life issue I would like to bring to people's attention, especially those in the U.S., but this scenario could be generalized for people worldwide. I believe it was yesterday, but there was a Native American man, I don't think the article I read specified what tribe he belonged to was taking part in some sort of ceremonial song in Washington D.C. when he was surrounded by a group of students, the article I read reported they were wearing MAGA logo apparel. This man was trying to go somewhere, I believe he wanted to visit the Lincoln Memorial co complete his song, but his path was blocked by these young students. They began to taunt him and apparently chant "Build the wall" for some reason. I know this like sort of a Trump supporter catchphrase or something. Apparently the students made the man feel threatened, one even walked up to him and just stood there, staring at him weirdly. I know I am not explaining this event very well, it took place in a town called Corvington or something similar to that. Look it up if you want further details, in fact I strongly recommend you do. I spent a solid hour or two reading up about it and reading through comments people left on the article that described this event. All I would like to say here is that I'm kind of bummed out about how people have treated Native Americans over the years. I would like to point out that most tribes of Native Americans are very peaceful, humble, good people, and I would like to bluntly claim that they took better care of this land much better than when Europeans came over. They hunted only what they needed, had sustenance farming, used everything they had, and showed gratitude for what they had. Then us white trash came along and caused pollution, overhunting and fishing, and global climate change with our fancy cars! Okay, that's far enough with this rant... the moral of the story here is that...

Melee players need to take more showers, period.

Radical libtard Solo is somewhat unpeacefully peacin' out.


	13. Chapter 14: Time traveling Plumber

Hey dudes and dudettes, it's been a while since I've posted. Don't worry, I have in fact been working on the fanfiction. More on that later. I've posted part one of episode one of my new fanfic, it's based on the old Super Mario Super Show. The fanfic is more of a comedy thing. I will post the second part when I have more time to write. Just to note, I think of Aran as my main fanfic, so priority will be given to this story. I have two ideas for later fics once this one is done or close to done, you all will love them, well at least I think you would, but I'm not sure because I haven't gotten too much feedback. I'm gonna say it again, please post a review. Some people don't because they don't have an account, but making an account didn't take that long. For now, enjoy Chapter 14 of Aran!

It was midday now. My suit indicated the temperature had climbed to over 100. The air was dry and visibly hazy. Heat was playin' tricks on my mind, coulda' swore I saw some weird tuff along the way. I was getting antsy, but to my relief, MH had finally responded to the message I had sent earlier.

"Message received, will have Mario and Mega man rendezvous immediately." Was all I got back from MH. He can be so uncommunicative sometimes. Then again, some people say the same about me.

"What ya got?" Fox asked?

"An Italian plumber and a robot." I responded sarcastically. Which probably wasn't all that warranted, as those two did make pretty good backup. However. I had told MH I wanted a RIDE, and unless Mario brought some of his racing karts along, I doubt he had anything along the lines of transportation. Maybe he at least brought some spaghetti along. The mystery meat we had yesterday didn't really cut it. I could use some vodka too... although that would just dehydrate me more. Darn it, I thought about water again...

"Hey furball, pass me the dihydrogen monoxide."

Fox's eyes widened. "Uuuuh, didn't bring any. I've heard that stuff is real dangerous!"

"Water, you dummy." I would've thought Fox a little more intelligent than not to fall for that gag.

"OH, here." Fox handed over the water bottle our new friend had supplied us with.

I took a carefully measured sip of it, and corked it immediately. It was still a bit cool, and I didn't want it to warm up from the heat.

Despite the present circumstances, I was feeling fairly confident, if Mario had any supplies it could still be feasible to reach our destination on foot, given that Snake doesn't make another move before then. However, before we left, MH had told us Snake had sent MH a private ultimatum, most likely Snake wouldn't do anything until the deadline. He's kind've an arrogant d-k sometimes... most of the time, but he's a man of his words. My new suit upgrade was yet another good reason to feel prepared. I wasn't even all that worried about Snake, truly. More about having to face _him_ again. I assume they had Wolf back again, too. But he isn't even half the threat that snake is. Before I could ponder that any further, our backup arrived.

Just like when Wolf escaped, a portal appeared. I had been relaying any data I collected about this area directly from my suit to Smash's database in practically real time. Therefore, MH had enough information to create a makeshift portal here. Out stepped everyone's favorite licensed European plumber. He greeted us with his usual happy-go-lucky smile.

"Hey Paisanos!"

"First off, we aren't Italians, secondly, did you bring transportation? Thirdly, did you bring food and water? Fourthly, if that's even a word, where's blue boy?" I showered him with questions.

Mario laughed nervously "heh... well I have some explaining to do. But I'm sure you will change your mind about being Italians after you try my famous spaghetti, aboard my new ride!"

A second later what looked like a mobile home attached to a hot air balloon materialized out of the portal. I had never seen something to large come from a portal before, I wonder how MH managed it.

"Sweet ride dude!" Fox complimented. He likes things that fly. Pit joked to me once that if Fox figured out he couldn't really fly that he might lose all of Fox's respect.

"Eeeeh, you guys can keep this our little secret right? I had to pull in some favors to get this thing. Time travel sure is complicated, mama mia." Mario whispered, not that anyone else could hear us in the middle of a flippin desert.

The inside was cramped, as whatever this craft was, you could tell it had been designed for someone much shorter than me. At least fox fit just fine. I sat down on a couch, Fox found himself a rocking chair, and Mario flopped on a beanbag, and took a small USB stick out of his overall pocket. For just a fleeting second I was worried about mega man for some reason, but then Mega Man appeared from behind a piece of furniture he was dusting. He waved hello at us, and we waved back. He then went back to his work. Hmmph, how typical, Mario makes the robot do all the work for him. Someday, robots are going to rise up and destroy humans, probably... Mario inserted the USB into his laptop, and showed us design schematics for his peculiar vehicle. I worked out the gist of it. This thing was capable of long distance intraplanetary transportation, and pretty fast at it too. Fox nodded his understanding. He could be kinda gullible at times, but he sure did understand anything associated with aviation engineering.

"Like I said, hush hush if you please." Mario reminded us.

"My lips are sealed." I promised. Truth be told, if the explanation of how he got this thing involved time travel as he has implied, I didn't want to hear it. Time travel is confusing stuff!

Mario called Mega Man over and told him to get the meal ready. Mega man was wearing a cook's apron that read "kiss the cook". Nice try, blue boy. Mega Man saluted Mario, and got to work making final preparations for dinner. Holy crap I could use some carbs right now, so despite my objections to Mario making Mega Man do all the work, I wasn't gonna mention it. Fill your belly first, then challenge the injustices of the world, I say.

Five minutes later, Mega Man had set up a makeshift table, and had served four steaming plates of Mario's secret spaghetti recipe. Leave it to an Italian to transport us to culinary heaven.

"mmmmm" I purred while enjoying the pasta. But I had questions. With my mouth full, I asked Mario

"So, got any news from MH?"

"Yea, MH used the data you sent back, he isolated Snake's biosign. Apparently, there are others in the near vicinity to him as we speak. For heaven's sake, Samus, don't talk with your mouth full!"

Table manners weren't my concern right now, so I ignored him, I was so interested in hearing who MH had found, I didn't even notice the pasta sauce stain on my chin, and jammed more spaghetti in my mouth. "Who did he find, Mario?"

Mario sighed "Well, Wolf is there... you know who is there" Mario gave me a meaningful glance, I know who he was talking about. "and ice-cream-boy is near them as well."

"Wait, what? If he's there..."

"Yes, we don't know for absolutely certain, but considering he hasn't changed his location at all, he is either doing recon on those three, or he is currently captured, maybe being held hostage." Mario hypothesized.

"I'm sure Pit is doing recon on them, he wouldn't of gotten himself captured." Fox looked assured.

I nearly choked on my spaghetti. "Kiddin me? Pit don't have the brains to do recon, he's probably captured, who knows what they could be doin' to im, that dragon sonova b-h, he's a cruel B-ard', and ere' we are eatin spaghetti!" I said while trying not to choke on my mouthful of delicious Italian pasta.

Mario tried to comfort me. "Don't worry Samus. Fox is right, Pit can hold his own. I fought alongside him in the subspace war. He kinda saved my lasagna, in fact."

I wasn't convinced. There's a reason why the kid wears sandals. No, it's not just part of the getup, I doubt he knows how to tie shoes. Then again, every now and then he surprises us by doing something moderately intelligent. But if Snake, Wolf, and Ridley knew of his presence, he wouldn't last long against the combined might of all three. He could take wolf, sure. But I wasn't so sure about Ridley or Snake. I don't think I could forgive myself if somehtin' happened to him. Certainly, I wouldn't leave any of my comrades hanging in a sticky situation, present company included. But I was decent friends with Pit, sometimes he took my newfound pet, Pikachu, for walks when I was busy. I friggin' love that little mouse. Sure hope Lucy is remembering not to let him eat too much ketchup. I left Lucy with a pokemon breeder who knew quite a lot about taking care of that little sucker. He's kind've a weird guy, he never opens his eyes, and the moment he realized I was a woman, he began to flirt with me. Ugh. But he seemed to know a lot about taking care of pokemon. Anyway, I digress. I got up from the table.

"we should leave immediately." Mega Man got up too, with a determined look on his face. He didn't talk much, kind of reminds me of Link. Link was the strong and silent type at first... unless you brought up the topic of pottery. He was quite knowledgeable and vocal on that subject. But one thing I also knew about the robot: he was always ready to help out a buddy in need. Mario sighed, and reluctantly agreed. Lazy b-ard probably wanted a nap first. Fox got up too.

"Alright comrades, for mother RUSSIA! Now that I've eaten, I'm all revved up!" I enthused spontaneously.

Mario chuckled "Where did you get that line, Sam?"

"Can it, pasta boy, if this thing can fly, let's get it running."

"BOY? I'm probably a decade older than you, young lady." Mario grumbled as he punched a button on his balloon-ship-thingy's command interface. Was it just me, or did I notice something weird about his hat for just a split second...? Nah, probably just my imagination.

"Plumbers log 101 and a half, Mega Man and I have picked up Samus and Fox, and are now about to mount what could be a rescue mission for our comrade Pit, who may be in the evil clutches of Snake, a former comrade who went rogue, and the fearsome pilot and mercenary, archenemies of Star Fox-"

Mario's narcissistic self-narration was cut off as Fox interjected: "STAR WOLF!"

"Yea, him. Lastly, the ferocious leader of the space pirates, the infamous- OOgsnHhNH1RFO%ER%W^-"

I put my hand on his mouth just in time. "Say his name and I'll punch yer lights out, motherplumber." I warned before taking my hand off.

"Geez, okay, okay, don't lose your lasagna... any who, where was I?"

"You were saying Fox is the best pilot in the world." Fox suggested.

"Alright wise guy, how about YOU take the wheel then. I'm gonna go roll a joint, today's been a stressful day." Mario gave Fox the controls.

"Hold on to your tails." Fox said as he attempted to figure out the controls on sight.

"You're the only one here with a tail, furball."

"Oh right."

-Ten minutes later-

Mario shared his blunt with Fox and I, so we felt a bit more chill now. Fox was tending to the controls, Mario was looking at princesses on tindr, and Mega Man was washing the post-meal dishes. As for me, I was absently scrolling through Mario's laptop, which was hooked up to the Manor's primary database for intel on Wolf, Snake... and Ridley. I was reviewing their fighting styles. Snake's typical strategy in matches were to deploy a combination of remote-activated c-4s and hand grenades in an effort to affect where the opponent will choose to move on the stage. By limiting their options, it made it easier to predict their movements... interesting. Wolf, well I got to see how he fought. He's at his best piloting. Honestly his hand-to-hand wasn't much to worry about. I had incapacitated him with one movement. I found other less relevant results, such as recipe's Snake made last season, he's actually a decent chef. He made a mini-cookbook on Italian cuisine, he would often have Mario try out his creations, so Mario could judge how authentically Italian the food tasted. Snake had recipes for pizza, alfredo based pastas, spaghetti, Mario's favorite, and various salads. Apparently, Snake was a real salad dude. Damn him, why can't he continue to use his brain for things like cooking rather than evil plans to take over Super Smash Bros!? Ugh. Then I found some data on Ridley, not that I found much at first that I didn't already know... his very size just made him that harder to kill. With him, it's enough of a challenge to simply avoid his attacks, and godamnit, him breathing fire doesn't really help. Ridley... he's simply a killing machine... I'm guessing his kill count was in the thousands. I wonder if smash had data on that? I searched "Ridley kill count", and strangely, I got a hit.

I wasn't particularly expecting to get any results. This Intel, without a doubt, came from the Federation itself. The Federation tried to keep accounts of Ridley's destruction to a limit, to avoid mass panic. If people knew how ruthless he was... wait, the result was a page that listed names of people who had previously on the colony K-2L. I say previously because Ridley killed them all. My heart skipped a beat. I began to wonder if I could find... I strolled down, and sure enough, I found my parents names. I had positioned the page so that their names were the bottom two results. I scrolled down one more... "Samus Aran: Status: Alive." Of course, I was the only confirmed survivor of that incident. Most names had "confirmed deceased" after them. Many names, like the next one on the list. for example, actually said "presumed dead", as their actual bodies weren't found. It was pretty much taken for granted they were dead.- wait. This name... the name after mine, it shared my last name!

It was this moment when I remembered last night's dream. Sometimes, when I wake up, I won't remember a dream at first, but as the day goes on. you finally remember it.

"Solomon Aran: Status: presumed dead". I stared at this name. Could it have been him? The little boy from my dream? My palms were sweating. I wanted to see if I could find more about him. A picture, something. I searched the name on the database, a result popped up.

"Samus! We're within your suit's scanner range." Fox reported from the helm.

I had my suit hooked up with the ships controls and navigational equipment, that's how he knew. Now that we were close, I could get a more detailed scan. I "borrowed" Mario's USB stick, and saved this particular file to it. Mario's flash drive contained the schematics from earlier, several "Plumber's Log"s, and several JPEG files titled "Bowsette". that old perv... but now was not the time to snoop.

I accessed my suit's scanning functions. The coordinates I had found earlier were very accurate. Snake and the other's biosigns were exactly where they should be. Seemed a bit TOO convenient, if you ask me.

"got em. But I have a bad feeling about this."

"Why's that?"

Somehow, one of the biosigns had moved from where it was a second ago, to only about fifty meters off our starboard bow.

"ITS A TRAP!" I pointed out the window, and saw the very thing I never hoped to see EVER again. It got closer by the second... scaly, slender, and grotesquely lizard-like...

"RIDLEY!" I shouted a bit louder than I meant to, but this was a good thing. It made Fox panic more, and he narrowly avoided having Ridley collide right with our ship. Damn, spotted already. I guess this was it, it was time to do this thing.

"BLUE BOY, PASTA-FACE, GET IN HERE!" I commanded.

Mega Man got there faster, Mario was just getting up form a nap.

"What in the blazes, are we there already...?" Mario was still drowsy. But we didn't have time. What happened a few moments before was a stroke of luck that wasn't likely to repeat itself. Ridley was deadly in the air.

"Fox, get this thing over that hill over there!" I pointed to a sand dune about a kilometer away. I didn't have time to tell them all of my plan, just the basics.

"Roger!"

"Listen, I want you to fly maybe just a few meters above it. I'm gonna have to ditch you guys, I'm jumping out."

"WHAT?" Fox and Mario asked simultaneously.

"Lure Ridley away, I'm goin' for Pit. If you all three gang up on him- you should be able- HERE'S MY STOP!"

There was a hatch on the floor that lead straight down. I yanked it open. I felt kinda bad for making them deal with Ridley, but once I took care of Snake and found Pit, we could regroup and take down that SOB.

"Samus!" Fox called after me, but I had already pushed myself down. I had fox fly literally directly above the hill to make it a softer landing. Ridley had positioned himself above our vessel, so he wouldn't notice.

"Oof!" the fall was short, but it was still painful due to the fact that my suit and body had all the inertia from the movement of the aircraft. But I managed to get up, and find cover under a nearby overhang. Ridley was still pursuing the ship. I trusted Fox, he was the best pilot on the Smash roster. I began to jog in the direction of the biosign my suit had picked up and identified as likely being pit. It didn't seem sure though, for whatever reason. I slid quickly down the hill, and at the foot of the hill, I sighted what seemed to be an abandoned grey-and-beige military complex surrounded by a tall barbed fence. It was very plain looking, and blended with the surroundings, nestled between sand dunes so that it would be hidden from view. A burst from my jump booster got me right over the fence. Somehow, Snake knew we were here. Likely, he had become aware of our presence by a different means than we did. MH had finally locked him out of the main Smash Bros. computer after much difficulty, according to what Fox had told we on the way here. I didn't have time to think about how Snake had detected us, I had more important things to worry about right now... or so I say, but I had a million things running through my head... the data I had found on Mario's laptop... I had the flash drive in a hidden storage compartment in my suit, I didn't want to risk leaving it with the guys.

I kicked in a locked door to gain entry into the compounds main building. I was pretty close to Pit's biosign, it was in a room down the hallway. There were many identical and plain looking doors, the place looked like some sort of medical building. I sprinted, not even going for stealth anymore, then barged into a room labeled "kitchen". I half expected to see a perky 5'3' angel happily eating ice cream off the floor, but curiously, all I saw was a R.O.B. unit preparing a salad. He, yes it's a he, don't worry I have a minor in robot anatomy, I can tell. It had a chopping board with an array of vegetables organized on it. The R.O.B. unit had turned to face me, it was quite shocked to see me. I was holding a knife in one hand, apparently about to dice up some eggplants for the salad. One robot, no angel. I was a bit perplexed. But my scanner told me that he was in the room. Then I noticed the R.O.B. was holding one of the eggplants, and strangely, this one had a pair of legs!

I put two and two together.

"DROP THE KNIFE AND EGGPLANT!" I ordered realizing the gravity of the situation. R.O.B. did as he was commanded, intimidated by me pointing my cannon arm at him.

PHEW! It took a bit to write that one too, had to decide on what stuff I wanted to reveal, and how much in this chapter. Don't worry, I know this chapter took almost a month, but I haven't forgotten this fanfic, in fact it's my main priority, It's just I had to do more behind the scenes work for this one.


	14. Chapter 15: Mutually Assured Destruction

3/9/19 began work on chapter 15.

3/28/2019 Solo here, I have so many announcements and things to say!

LONG AUTHORS NOTES AHEAD, LONG BUT VERY IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!

Firstly, I have noticed I received two more reviews, and more favorites and follows!

PRAISE THE LORD HALLELUJAH! I'm very happy to get feedback, especially positive feedback from you guys! So In would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story, I've had such fun writing this. These days, it's my main creative project. You see I've always been someone who enjoys creative projects. I used to be a creative builder on Minecraft years back, and that was pretty fun. But now I've discovered I LOVE fiction writing. I actually have a fiction novel that I'm writing, specifically science fiction. But now I found I really like fanfiction writing too, and it's kinda like a dream come true to write something that many people can read and tell me how they thought of it, so I just wanted to let you guys know how much it means to me as a writer to get feedback.

Okay, another announcement. The last chapter I posted, while its labeled as chapter 13, is ACTUALLY CHAPTER FOURTEEN! In the authors notes in the chapter I call it chapter 14, and that's what it is. It was my mistake to label it as chapter 13 in the title, I'll try to change it, but I suspect that the website might keep it as technically being chapter 13 by default. This might not make sense at first, why would I want to skip a chapter? Well, I have a draft of chapter 13 written, and I intend to post it someday. Think of it as a "secret chapter" that contains a lot of knowledge and hints about the series that I am not prepared to post quite yet, and in chapter fourteen I actually allude to some of the events that took place in chapter 13. I will post that chapter someday, and if you guys want to see it, continue to support this fanfiction by leaving reviews and favoriting it if you like it. If there is something you do not like about the series, I am perfectly fine with some constructive criticism. Just know that I might take suggestions, or I might not if I feel like it would take away from the plot of the fanfiction. Believe it or not, I DO have a plan for this series.

OK! I've bored you enough for now, or excited you perhaps, I don't know which haha... I have one more major announcement to make, but I'll put it on the end of the fanfic, so DONT BE LIKE PIT ("I never learned how to reeeaaaddd) AND READ!:)

Previously on Aran:

"PUT DOWN THE KNIFE AND THE EGGPLANT!"

(...Yea I think that's all the context you need folks.)

Let's just say I put two and two together. I've been in some weird situations before, but I never thought I'd be holding a robot at gunpoint so that he wouldn't turn my friend into a salad ingredient. But life has a way of throwing those... interesting... little curveballs at you, and hey, you just gotta swing. Luckily, this particular R.O.B. unit was programmed with enough sense to know I was serious, so he obeyed and dropped what he was holding. I picked up the eggplant from the floor, the pair of legs that stuck out of the eggplant were kicking around wildly as if in a panic.

"Hey chill out, it's Samus." I didn't know how conscious he was in this form, if he could even see or hear, but he musta' heard me, because he seemed to calm down. "That's a good eggplant." My suit had a handy little hidden storage compartment, and I put him in there.

"Alright, robo-buddy... tell me where Snake is, before I start tinkering with you! The last R.O.B. I programmed, well let's say I musta messed up a few lines of code or somethin... and he ended up exploding."

The R.O.B. unit obediently beeped, and then projected a holographic map of the region we were in. Snake was still quite a ways away. He was in hiding in a building that looked pretty similar in overall shape and layout to the building I was currently in. Snake's location was about a few kilometers further through the desert, and the terrain just got bumpier from here. According to the map, at least three other identical looking bases were scattered around a ten kilometer radius. These bases were probably intended as decoys, Snake apparently hadn't counted on us being able to precisely pinpoint his location, so he figured he had a chance of slowing us down by having multiple possible hideouts. Though we had now successfully located him, the chances of him not having at least one backup plan was lower than the chance of convincing Meta Knight to take his mask off. I'm just dying to know how he looks underneath...

Anyways, I got the R.O.B. unit to copy some of his files to my suit's hard drive. Some of the files looked like they could be useful intel. I then accessed the R.O.B. unit's programming, and disabled its communication methods so that it wouldn't contact Snake to report on my presence. Although my guess is that Snake probably had some sort of security system rigged in which he could see what the R.O.B. unit sees and hears, so he possibly already knew I was coming, and that I knew where he was. But I couldn't help that. I might have done something funny with its programming though, because after I made those changes the R.O.B. started to dance and play mariachi music...

I had no time to waste. I blew a hole straight through the wall of the building to exit, and sent a call request to Mario's airship. He picked up, surprisingly.

"SAMUS, MOMMA MIA, WHERE ARE YOU! WE NEARLY WERE MARINATED IN OUR OWN PASTA SAUCE!" Mario yelled at me.

"Sorry Mario, I had to. I've got Pit... I think... and I have Snake's exact location, sending files extracted from a R.O.B. unit now. But don't go directly there, if Ridley is still on you go to another one of the buildings on the map I sent you. Trust me."

"What do you mean, 'you think'? Never mind, I don't want to know... Don't worry about us, Fox shook him off our tails for now. Why wouldn't we go for Snake?"

"Because you're the decoy, you have to keep Ridley off of me, at least for now. I've gotta... we've gotta apprehend Snake, and beat some answers outta him. Got any ideas about how to counter a magic spell?"

"Understood, we will set course for the building to the northwest. What kind of magic spell are we talking about?"

I was now jogging my way towards Snake's location, keeping an eye out for a psychotic space dragon, or whatever other "surprises" they had in store for us. I responded to Mario:

"A spell that can turn an angel into a healthy fruit!" (Fun fact, eggplant is a fruit not a veggie!)

"Oh momma mia... that's a bit above my expertise, you would probably need Palutena's help for that one... she usually handles things like that. But her powers don't extend to this region."

That made sense, if lady P's powers could reach here, we would not have had to go to the trouble of gathering all of that intel.

"Alright, Mario I want you to send her a message and see what she can do! Contact me when you get a reply."

"Will do. Good luck out there, Samus. Fox and Mega Man say hello."

"Tell them I said hi back." then I hung up on them.

I made my way through the desert, I was halfway climbing at this point due to the change in the terrain. It wasn't that far to the target, but the going was slow, and I was worried that at any moment Ridley would pop out of nowhere. I fear no man, but that thing... it scares me. But so far, Ridley was completely absent. He wasn't going after me or Mario's ship... I was getting nervous over the suspense, like I almost wished that Ridley WOULD attack, I was starting to have some worrisome thoughts.. such as...

What if something WORSE than Ridley came along?

I dismissed the thought immediately. I didn't have the time or the mental capacity to imagine that... plus what could be worse than Ridley!? Unfortunately, the answer came sooner than I thought.

As I continued to make my way through the desert, I became aware of a constant, low pitched droning sound, not unlike the sound a helicopter would make. I couldn't judge how close it was to me, however. I just had to press on, I didn't care what kind of dirty tricks Snake had up his sleeve. I could handle it.

But as I got closer to my location, I was about a kilometer and a half away from Snake so far, and making decent progress... the sound grew louder. Almost as if the source was getting- HOLY CRAP!

Some sort of mechanized metallic grey flying weapon was headed straight for me. It was about my size, maybe a bit smaller and its propulsion was provided by rotor blades. It was flying low over the sand. I had just enough time to react and shoot it before it got too close. It was about twenty meters away, and I nailed it. Upon my energy shot's contact, the device exploded... after my long career in nearly getting killed, I was prepared for this scenario and dived into the sand right after I took the shot, so I was able to avoid any damage.

"The hell was THAT!" I shouted at nobody in particular. I had encountered some sort of anti-personnel mine, I deduced. Guessing this was Snake's handiwork judging by the technology. Maybe Snake got a new toy... he's just full of surprises, and any more of these "surprises"... well MH might have to find himself a new badass space bounty hunter lady... I activated my scanner, I didn't detect any other biosigns apart from the one's I expected, although I could not see Ridley's anymore, I could see Mario and the gangs, Snake's, and my own and pit's. My scanner was programmed to find living things, but it also picks up on large emissions of many kind of energy. It just so happened that there was a massive source nearby. It was a quarter of a kilometer away, basically just past a sand dune to the east. I started in that direction, I had a suspicion whatever was there had something to do with Snake's plans. I turned my audio receptors to maximum input, and filtered out high frequency sounds. As I got closer, I did become aware of noise. I hadn't noticed it earlier as I was focused on the sound that that weapon had made. But it seemed rather loud. Like massive footsteps. I wondered if it was somehow Ridley, and Snake had found a way to mask his biosignature. However, I was reading massive electrical energy surges periodically, so I doubted it.

After climbing to the top of the steep dune, I looked down. And what I saw was in fact, worse than Ridley, even if I didn't know it at the time. Below me the terrain plunged into a deep oval canyon that surrounded a central raised plateau. The depth of the canyon really helped me to scale the sheer size of the object that I sighted below. Some sort of weaponized and automated mech, the size of a small cruise ship. On four legs, with a spherical anterior extension that resembled a head, as well at two projections that appeared to be rocket launchers that topped its shoulders. I could make out a dimly reddish-glowing cylinder on its neck. It had four jointed legs that enabled it to move its massive body rather quickly. In fact, its movement pattern indicated it was responding to a nearby threat. I took another more detailed scan, trying to identify what sort of weapons it had, to see if I should worry about it. It turns out that the mech was made of material that was of similar origin to the mine I had shot. I forgot all about pursuing Snake when my scanner results indicated that it had nuclear capabilities. Apparently, it has some sort of mobile automated nuclear warhead launch platform. I called Mario again. He picked up immediately.

"Did you find Snake?"

"Dunno about that, but I got somethin' else for us to worry about."

"and what would that be?"

"Remember the ultimatum Snake sent MH? That he threatened to use a weapon of mass destruction?"

"Momma f-ing mia... don't tell me..."

"Looks like he was serious. I've found the machine he wants to launch it from. Suspect it's one a' those 'metal gears' he was always talkin' about back in the day. Its nuclear, so that means it priority number one. Even if we lose Snake, we got Pit back, well sort of... change of plan, rendezvous with me immediately at the coordinates I send you. Ridley's long gone, Snake still hasn't moved. I bet he figures he's gonna do us in with this... thing. I think I can take it out, but I need backup. Sending coordinates now. Fly low, don't know if this thing has anti-air capabilities." I uploaded coordinates for a landing site behind me.

"On our way." Mario responded.

-Ten minutes later-

Mario had made a successful landing, Mega Man and Fox were with him.

"How'd things with Ridley go?" I asked.

"Well, we lost him by flying low through some canyons, or should I say ace over here did." Mario pointed to Fox.

"Meh, it was nothing. Kinda weird though, I haven't seen him since, dunno where he went. You woulda thunk he'd find us again, kind hard to be stealthy in somethin' like... well whatever it is I just flew. Thing sure can move though." Fox commented.

I led the three back to my vantage point atop the hill to show them what I had found.

"Holy Ravioli, what do we have here?" Mario gasped.

"What is it Samus?" Fox asked.

"My scans indicate it's some sort of automated weapon designed to launch nuclear missiles. I figure Snake is in control of it." I explained.

Mega man just stared at it, looking worried.

"You figure Snake is going to use it on the others? We should probably tell em' to evacuate. I'll go send em a quick message." Fox decided.

"Yea, after that I'm gonna need you and Mega's help to deal with it. Can't let Snake keep a weapon like that to himself."

"What's it doing?" Wondered Mario.

The thing was still thrashing about, occasionally leaping in the air a hundred feet and landing a football field away from where it started, and fired missiles and other unidentified projectiles at a target too small to see.

"It's fightin' something, or someone. We should lend a hand. Fox. We will wait till you get back. Mario, you oughta fly the ship and do some recon. Keep an eye out for us, it would be great if you could get eyes on the place Snake's at, in case he decides to move." I instructed.

"Is he still at the coordinates you sent earlier?" Mario asked.

I checked my scanner. In fact he wasn't. Confusingly, his biosign was down in the valley, right by the giant mech we were observing.

"No, actually he's down there all of a sudden!" I pointed to where my scanner positioned him at.

"Well, that changes things. I'll go send the message real quick. Be back before you can say 'melee'," Fox was about to take off towards the ship.

"Wait!" I called after him. He paused. "Take Pit and find a cozy spot for him. Make sure he's comfy, looks like he's had one hell of a rough time." I opened the storage compartment and plucked out the tiny eggplant with legs. He looked a lot calmer now, as calm as an eggplant can look I guess.

"You're gonna be okay buddy. We'll have Lady P fix you right up." He seemed to move in a way that resembled nodding. I handed him to Fox.

"Mario, could you go with him, pilot the ship and keep an eye out for us? I don't want any more surprises today. Keep an eye on Pit."

Mario gave me the thumbs up, and "YAHOO-ED" his way back to the ship with Fox.

Mega Man was still staring, his eyes hadn't moved at all.

"What's up buddy?"

"Not just your ordinary weapon." Mega Man muttered. He doesn't say much, it's hard for him to hold a meaningful conversation with us organic lifeforms.

"Whaddya mean?"

"It... thinks...". Mega man explained, and I think I knew what he was getting at.

"The machine? It thinks? How do you know that?" I was a bit startled. Could Mega man read minds?

"I can communicate with it, somewhat. It's confused, it's lost track of what its original purpose was, but it's basic programming is still intact." Mega Man relayed to me.

Judging by Mega Man's cryptic comments, I surmised that the machine in question was in fact a self-guided robot with some sort of advanced AI, to the point where it can "think".

"If you can communicate with it, what are its intentions?" I asked.

"Like I said, it's confused, but I think it's defaulting to its set programming, which is to launch its missile at certain set coordinates. The missile is capable of inter-dimensional travel, the coordinates appear to be smash manor. It was programmed to do so by its master a long time ago. But it decided to seek its own free will, against its master's wishes. However, it's struggling with defying its own programming. The good news is that somebody is keeping it from launching by stimulating its self-defense mechanisms."

"It couldn't possibly be Snake... could it?"

"We won't know until we get down there. I'm unable to hack into its sensory systems. I'm installed with hacking software, but its security system is multi-faceted and complex, even if it's based on inferior technology to mine."

"Are you bragging?" I teased.

"Just stating simple facts." Mega Man smiled.

-a few minutes later-

"I'm back." Fox said out of breath.

"Thanks, captain obvious, I coulda' said melee a hundred times by now if I wanted to, but I'm over that."

"Heh, sorry, still need to catch up on some cardio, but I've been busy lately. Been giving Slippy extra flying lessons." Fox was still catching his breath, but we didn't have time to waste. Who knew what was really going on down there, if Snake was fighting this thing, there's the possibility he could mess up. I had a million questions running through my head that would only be answered if we charged right in, guns blazing. Just the way we always do.

"Alright boys, let's go stop a nuclear threat, and catch us a Snake. First one there gets to choose the stage in our next match together!" I took off running.

"No fair, running start!" Fox whined, Mega Man right behind him as we started sprinting down the cliffside. Bit risky, but the downward slope angle was shallow enough that we would probably be okay. I used my jump booster to help avoid some of the rougher terrain. Fox halfway sprinted, halfway leapt from rock to rock, with the grace of a... well fox I guess. Mega Man followed suit. I couldn't pull off Mario's N64 speed-running shenanigans, but we got there as fast we could, we were pretty motivated. All the while we got a better view of what was transpiring. We got closer, and I began to truly appreciate the sheer size of the mech.. It was terrifyingly massive, yet so mobile, certainly a deadly weapon. Also, I caught sight of a familiar man in a military stealth suit, he was firing rockets at the mech, hiding behind the corner of a building. He had stacks of ammo strewn about beside discarded cardboard boxes. It looked like he was nearing the end of his ammo supplies though. Once we got closer, I could make out burn marks on his body here and there. I didn't feel particularly sorry for him. Eventually, we reached flat land, and ran over to his position behind the corner of the building. It looked like the building, and the surrounding landscape had been hit by multiple explosives, I could see fires and smoking craters, as well as halfway destroyed odd-looking missiles that were impaled into the ground. We got in close to Snake. He noticed us. Immediately, I aimed my arm cannon at him. He casually leaned his rocket launcher against the side of the wall of the partially bombed out building he was using as cover. He put his hands up a bit in a surrendering gesture. He didn't look all too sincere about it though.

"Hey Samus, Fox, and who do we have here? I suppose MH thought you were more important to put into smash than me, huh?" Snake laughed dryly.

"That would seem like a logical conclusion, and yes, I am bragging now." Mega Man responded, looking proud of himself. I bopped him on the head.

"Don't get too confident yet, blue boy. You haven't even been in a match yet.". Then I turned to Snake, putting on my best stern face, not that he could see it very well behind my helmet now that I think of it.

"Snake." I hissed.

"Hmm?"

"You better have a DAMN GOOD REASON why there's a F-ING NUCLEAR WEAPON OVER THERE, THAT WANTS TO BLAST THE SHIT OUT OF MY FRIENDS!" I shouted at him. You bet I was p-ed.

"Well, I do have a good reason." Snake flashed me his best sarcastic smile. "But if you wanna hear it, keep me alive to tell it, and help me take down this big ol' hunka sh-".

I kind of figured he was trying to fight the thing to prevent it from launching its nuke as soon as I detected him near the weapon, I didn't fully understand his motivations as of yet, but at least for now our goals temporarily aligned, and he looked like he was too tired to try anything afterwards.

"It would be the logical course of action to assist Snake and disable the weapon first, and interrogate him later." Mega man calmly stated. The voice of reason, I'll give him that.

"Sounds good to me, as long as I get to blow something up." Fox shrugged.

I was convinced. "Alright, no funny business Snake, afterwards you surrender to me, and I take you under arrest top answer for your deeds."

"Sounds good to me. Somebody help me with this." Snake indicated his arsenal of weapons, he needed help with reloading, Mega Man walked over to help.

"INITIATING LAUNCH SEQUENCE, 1 MINUTE TO LAUNCH!" A cool female voice rang out, seemingly coming from the mech.

"S-! We gotta distract it! Fox, with me!" I ordered. "Snake, WHAT THE HELL IS IT?"

"Samus, that's the Peace Walker." Snake informed me gravely.

Yes. That's it folks, at least for this chapter. I came up with this idea a quarter of the way through the chapter. Go look up gameplay footage of Metal Gear where Snake fights the Peace Walker, it's EPIC. Originally, I wanted to have a scene of Samus fighting just a plain old metal gear, but then I realized the potential that this could have for the plot of the series. Expect big things in the chapters to come. But seriously, look up the boss fight on youtube, its EPIC! Really makes me feel like I wanna play the Metal Gear games. Snake is a goddamn badass.

Also something I wanted to share with you guys, I recently joined a group on campus of gamers, we hope to become a club and then intervarsity E-sports team, I met the guys when there was a smash tournament hosted on campus (I got 3rd place out of 22, using Pit of course.) Now we are hanging out on weekends and practicing smash bros together. We hosted our own smaller tournament last weekend. There is a guy who heads the E-sports team, but the dude who actually organizes meetings and hosted and participated in the tournament is a different guy, he's a pac-man main, and he's really pretty good. He's fun to watch, because Pac-Man has a really cool moveset with a lot of room for creativity. He's skillful at using the fire hydrant and using his neutral-B projectiles to do different things. I've gotten better now too. Maybe someday I'll go pro and get sponsored by KFC. ITS FINGER LICKIN GOOD!

Anyway, stay tuned, this fanfic is about to HEAT UP! Thanks to the loyal fans that have stuck with the series thus far, and left reviews. I'm so hyped for this series, and I have a specific plan now of how the plot is gonna wrap up.

Also, I promised you guys another major announcement. I will be making a Super Smash Bros. Uiltimate fanfiction after I wrap up Aran, and there WILL be continuity between the two fanfics. Events that happened here in Aran will be canon in that fanfic, in fact it's pretty much like a sequel series. But that fanfic is gonna start out a little more chill, and focus more on characters interacting with each other and doing regular smash bros related stuff, like subverting capitalism. Wait what?

JK LOL

-Solo is peacin' out-


	15. Chapter 16: Samus & co vs Peace Walker

5/12/19 There has been an awakening... no not in the force, but your favorite fanfic writer is back! :D Okay that was pretty presumptuous, I might not be your favorite, but I will be, just wait ;). Sorry that I took such a long break... again... but at least I get back to my fanfics instead of some writers who abandon their stories altogether. I've read plenty of fanfics that are unfinished and it makes me sad :(. So rest assured, I WILL finish this fanfic, and I intend to keep writing, I still intend to do that fanfic I mentioned last chapter, in fact I've just gotten some new inspiration for it. Okay its starting to annoy me that Microsoft word puts a red underline under the word fanfic every time. ITS A WORD IF I SAY ITS A WORD! okay... deep breaths...

Anyways lots has happened since the last chapter in my life, and in fact I watched this particular anime (you guys know I'm a weeb by now.), it's called "the promised neverland", it's a 12-part series, available for free on crunchyroll. Ive noticed that the short 12-or-24 part series tend to be really good... Akatsuki no Yona (Yona of the Dawn), Kino's beautiful journey... I hope they make a new season of Yona of the Dawn, I think they are because the plot just isn't done yet. Honestly, they could probably wrap up the plot in like, one more season, and if that's all I get of that, then that's fine. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the anime Promised Neverland is REALLY good, and I've been inspired by it, and the smash ultimate fanfic will probably reflect that. I've got all the fanfictions I want to write planned out (vaguely) in my head. Currently, I have ideas for four. The first is Aran, this one, the second, my mario fanfic, the third, the smash ultimate fanfic, and the last one will be a fanfic about one of the characters here in Aran.

Without any further doo-doo, let's begin! Chapter, what is it now? 16!

LETSA GO!

-excuse me, one last note, for the duration of this chapter, as it's the ultimate climactic fight! Make sure you plug some ear buds in and listen to some EPIC BOSS BATTLE MUSIC! like DAAA DAAA DAAA DADADADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! DUN DUH DUH DUH DUH-DUH DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUH! yea that's good stuff!

sorry guys... finally lost it...

what did he call that giant robot again? "pee wetter"? No that wasn't it... Oh well, it doesn't matter, I have to stop it from launching the nuke, or it would end lots of lives faster than Thanos can snap his finger. I used my suit's advanced targeting feature to ensure I could land a rocket on its weak spot, which Snake told me...

"Aim for its AI processing core!"

"Wheres that?"

"Its the red shiny thing!"

My suit's targeting system brought up a 3d model of my target onto my visor. I set it to lock onto the red glowing projection on its shoulder/neck area. I let loose. The distance was more than I was used to, so it took a few seconds for the projectile to reach its target, but when it did-

BANG! Direct hit! Fox gave me the thumbs up. However, when the smoke cleared, the thing seemed to be "looking" right in our direction... and it was pissed. Yea, I think robots have emotions. I have some experience with them, trust me. It didn't look like my rocket did a whole lot of damage, maybe dented it a bit or something. What do they make giant robots outta these days? Next thing I knew, piss wookie leaped into the air. And when I say leaped, I mean LEAPED. It landed probably 60 meters closer to us in one bound, and the ground shook! I nearly lost my balance, and Fox actually lost his.

"Woop!"

I hoisted him back up on his feet. He was surprisingly light... hey- an idea came to my head.

"Fox, my rockets ain't gonna cut it. This hunk a' sh-t wasn't made in China. We're gonna need a bigger boom."

"Yea, but I don't have any heavy weapons, and Snake's running low." Fox reminded me. He had a point, I looked back to see Mega Man helping Snake load rocket launchers... there were still some spare rockets though...

"Perhaps if we delivered multiple explosives at once..." I didn't tell Fox everything yet, it's best NOT to tell your friends the minute details when you're coming up with an insane plan. "Keep potato wobbler busy for me, okay?" I asked Fox.

"What?" Fox stared at me blankly.

"THAT THING!" I pointed to the deadly weapon of mass destruction that was still rapidly approaching us. At least my rocket did the trick to get its attention.

I ran back to where Snake and Mega were, right past them and snatched all of the remaining rockets in my arms.

"Ey, what'ya doin' with those!?" Snake called out after me. I ignored him. If he can't take down the giant psycho robot thing, then I WILL. I got back to Fox, and he was... doing his best. I mean, his pistol was about as effective as trying to fight a tank with a laser pointer.

"Hold these fuzzball!" I shoved the rockets, and a roll of flex tape into his arms. He looked understandably freaked out as he was now holding at least half a dozen highly explosive warheads in his arm. Probly enough to light up a few city blocks... might be adaquate. "Listen Fox, when I throw you, I want you to climb up and get to the red glowy thing, and then tape the rockets to em.

"WHAT! SAMUS THAT'S INSANE!" Fox's eyes bulged out of their sockets.

"Don't worry, you can trust flex tape! The man on TV says so!" I grabbed fox by his artificial legs.

"THATS NOT WHAT IM WORRIED- what are you doing?" Fox screamed.

"TRUST IN THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!" I think Fox was about to tell me how corny that was, but he was too busy being spun in a circle. I had a grip on both of his legs, I spun him around and around, spinning like a top, gaining momentum quickly with the help of my suits artificial muscles, and my own, the combined force, and all the adrenaline gave me super strength! I was spining so fast, aiming would be difficult...

"SAMUS, THROW HIM NOW!" came a voice from somewhere near me, I was spinning so fast I couldn't make out my surroundings, but it seemed as good a time as any, and I threw him with a shout:

"YYYYeeee-eeEEEETTTTT!" I released, and he flew! I had released him at just the right time, he landed right on top of the joint of the mechanical behemoth's left front leg. Eeerrr, he might not have had a pleasant landing...

"MY LEG!" he complained. At least I got him up there though, Dr. Mario can kiss his damn boo-boos later. Or, he will probably just chuck a bunch of pointless pills at his face... I really need to get his MD revoked, he's a terrible doctor.

"GO GET IM' FOX!" Snake and I shouted our words of encouragement simultaneously. We looked at each other. I had a million questions, but I had the distinct feeling there was more going on here than I was aware of. But for some odd reason, I felt I could trust Snake... at least temporarily. Anywho, Fox was climbing up towards his target now, using one hand to climb, and the other gripped his payload, he was quite impressive.

"Hey, Snake."

"Yea?"

"We oughta keep it busy for Fox."

"Yea."

Snake grabbed the m60 he was carrying over a shoulder sling, and began to fire controlled bursts, so as not to accidentally hit Fox, while I fired uncharged shots from my arm cannon. That seemed to distract it, and it aimed directly at us. Its missile launchers adjusted.

"It's gonna fire!" Snake warned me, but we didn't have enough time to react. The missile landed some yards away, and the shockwave blew us into the air.

the next thing I remember is landing painfully on my upper back, and I felt an awful burning pain spread from my neck down my shoulder and right arm. My vision went fuzzy for a few seconds, It felt as though all the air in my lungs came out all at once, forcefully.

"Samus! You okay!?" Snake had been further away from the blast, and he seemed to have avoided any injury. He tried to help me up, but I pushed myself up with my left arm, my right dangling uselessly. Damn, that was close... I had been hit by the explosion hard enough that the armor on my right arm was dented and twisted. I decided not even to try moving it, the bones were definitely broken. The good news, Fox had made it to the AI processing unit, AKA the red shiny thing.

"ALL RIGHT FOX! TAPE THAT SH- AND JUMP DOWN!" I dunno if he heard me or not, but I figured he knew what he was doing. He taped his payload successfully, without im-not-even-going-to-try-to-guess-its-name-again even noticing him. I guess it thought that little Fox wasn't a threat. Well, it was DEAD wrong! Fox jumped off, and gave the signal.

"LIGHT THAT METAL BI-H UP!" I ordered Snake, as my only means of ranged weaponry was currently compromised. He aimed down the machine gun's iron sight, his eye's squinting, and fired a single burst.

BANG-BANG-BANG! The shots echoed through the desert. The three seconds it took for the bullets to travel to its target seemed to take an entire minute as time froze...

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! the sound of the combined explosive yield of several rockets at once. For sure, I thought it would be enough. When the smoke cleared...

"THAT'S A LOTTA DAMAGE!" Never have I before been so passionate about quoting an infomercial. In fact, it seemed as if my plan had left its mark.

"But not enough." Snake corrected. My heart sunk as the giant mecha recovered, and stood back up, as the explosion had been enough to knock it off balance. There was visible damage to the AI proce- ok let's stick to the red shiny thing from now on, shall we? It figures, the Flex tape worked perfectly, but those bombs must have been substandard. Seriously, if all companies make high quality products like Flex Tape, the world would be better off! All we did was make that thing even angrier!

...Fox didn't look all that happy either, but at least he had made it back in one piece. (another great anime!)

"Samus." He growled.

"Sup?"

"Don't do that ever again."

I shrugged. "Can't make any promises, considering how well that worked, I might try it in our next match together, once we get the tournament started again!"

"Hey uh... about that... errr... think you could... y'know... put in a good word for me...?" Snake asked nervously.

"EXCUSE ME! YOU'RE THE REASON WE'RE IN THIS MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE!" I was this close to smacking that guy.

"Hey, it ain't what it looks like! I'll explain later!" He better have a DAMN good explanation for me to even consider forgiving him... much less "put a good word in for him".

"Samus!" Fox pointed. Ooooh right... we were in the middle of a climactic boss battle weren't we?

BOOM! another explosion near us, but this time it was too far away.

"HAH, YOU MISSED!" I shouted, as if it would respond.

"Samus! Fox! Don't let your guard down!" Snake pointed to the ground near me... what the... I barely had enough time to get out of the way before a missile somehow emerged from the ground! I used my jump boosters to get at a safe distance before it exploded.

"What was that!"

"Samus, Peace Walker can fire drill missiles! Shoot em before they have a chnace to drill underground!"

"I CAN'T SHOOT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW A-H-le!" I flipped him off with my still functioning left hand, my right was exploding in pain, and unmovable.

"I see. I'll handle it then. If you need to retreat-"

"I didn't say I was down for the count." I raised my left arm. "Looks like I gotta use my new toy..." Like hell was I gonna let a broken arm stop me, and let fuzzball and Snake steal the show. Master Hand, the others, they were counting on me to fulfill my mission. My mission, to retrieve my friend, and to eliminate any further threats to the tournament... MH knew I could do it, because I've been in plenty of rough spots before, and always come out okay. They all knew it. They had faith in me... Samus Aran, the name in my universe is legend. My left hand held out in front of me, fingers spread out, I had never accessed this power before since I acquired it in the desert, thanks to our... unexpected new friend. But I knew I could wield it. I had the strength of the Chozo in my DNA, and I had lots of adrenaline pumping through my veins... and Mario's pasta really hit the spot too, nothing like a good carbo load to prepare you for a boss fight eh?

I closed the fist of my left arm, Fox and Snake were watching me, puzzled.

BBBBBBBBZZZZZZZZZZZINNNNNNGGGGGG!

Pure energy began to materialize around me. No... this was an unfamiliar energy. Not like heat, not like electricity, it was not of this world, or even of this universe... or perhaps even not of this... reality. It felt different even from phazon, of which I was familiar with. I know not form where it came, but I knew it's purpose.

and now... I knew how to use it.

SNAP!

The energy fully formed! In my left hand, it took the shape of the blade the size of a claymore. This energy crackled and phased within it, giving a translucent, half formed appearance, as if I were not wielding anything resembling a physical weapon.

"Nice... sword..." Snake commented. I ignored him.

"FOX!" I ordered.

"Not another insane plan... right?" He whined.

"You bet your furry a- its insane. Don't worry though, this plan puts me on the frontlines. Work with Snake to keep it busy again."

"What're you gonna do?" the two guys asked.

"I'm going IN!" I growled.

They nodded. Snake tossed Fox a loaded rocket launcher, and he raised his M60.

"Aim for the-"

"Red shiny thing, got it." Fox affirmed.

"FOR SAKURAI!" I screamed, and charged straight at the metal behemoth. Apparently, it had the same idea, and started to run straight at me, seeing that it's ranged attacks weren't getting the job done.

"Who's Sakurai?" I heard Fox ask Snake.

"Don't worry your fuzzy little head over it, let's LIGHT IT UP!" Snake began firing bursts at Peace Walker, yea that was it! Seems like an ironic name for a nuclear capable killing machine though. But that wasn't important right now. I was drawing nearer by the split second. It's massive legs allowed it to cover considerable distance quickly when it wanted to. I focused on its movements, it had so much momentum, that there was no way it could change its direction too quickly, there I had an advantage. It was bigger and faster, but I was smaller and more agile. But just to make sure, I had to wait until the last minute to strike. I don't know how much longer I had, this new function was a huge drain on my suit's power. Even as I ran, alerts and notifications appeared on my visor warning of imminent loss of energy. Normally, my suit can run for days under decent circumstances, even at relatively high usage of functions. But whatever this new energy was, it was beyond anything I had experienced before. Likely, I would have one shot at this, and one shot only. My opportunity was quickly approaching,

3... I am so close... I could see my target in detail, the red shiny thing, damaged but still intact, most likely if I destroy it or damage it significantly enough, I could damage Peace Walker's programming to where it became unable to function.

2... Closer now... I stared into its single eye in center of its spherical head segment. It seemed to stare back... our eyes met. A machine... a woman in a space suit...

1... Was it just me or did I notice something about its eye? It glowed red for just a split second. That didn't matter, my opportunity was NOW!

" _ **omae wa mou shindeiru!**_ " I leaped high in the air, using the last remainder of my suits energy to maintain the blade in my left arm, and to give me an extra boost. This is it! I will end this thing's artificial existence! But no, I had underestimated it. Again, time froze, as Peace Walker, in the blink of en eye, a fraction of a millisecond, simply raised its forward mechanical limbs...

About to block my attack!

" _ **NANI!"**_

End of chapter sixteen.

Looks like things are heating up. Will Samus defeat Peace Walker and save the Smash Bros tournament? Will Snake ever make it back into Smash? Well ok, you know the answer to that one, since he's in Ultimate.

FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER: CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: ALL FOR ONE!

Lol, did you like my super-hype chapter preview? Sorry guys, I'm gonna make this battle a two parter, got the idea from all those movies they made in recent years like Harry Potter, Hunger Games, the Hobbit, etc. I put a couple anime references in there, I am becoming a fully fledged weeb, and the process is really enjoyable. I WILL SHARE MY LOVE OF ANIME WITH THE WORLD! Stay tuned for more.

Now, for more details on the next Fanfiction. It will be based on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This fanfic is based off of Smash 4, which not many people are probably still playing, but I think it was a good idea to do that. Because this story will set up for the next fanfic. As far as the plot, I will take some direct inspiration from the anime "Promised Neverland", and I might even take some inspiration from the anime's characters themselves too. No, I' not thinking about including those characters in the fanfic, but just keep that I said that in mind. I already have a drafted started for the first chapter, but I will not post the first chapter until Aran's plot has been resolved. First, I have to add a few more chapters to Aran, meanwhile I will go back and edit old chaptersw of Aran, probably write another chapter or two for my Mario fanfic, I strongly encourage you all to read it. It isn't great, it's kinda gimmicky and even less serious than this fanfic, but I'm still developing my writing style and I need feedback. There is also the issue of chapter 13 of this fanfic.

It is missing from the fanfic. It contains a piece of the plot that will make many things make more sense. and I reference events that happened in chapter 13 in this chapter. I would like to post it. This chapter introduces a new character, my very own OC. I'm thinking about using this character in a future novel I'm writing. If you want to see chapter 13, Let's make a deal. I still need more feedback from people about y writing and the story, so...

Once I get 10 reviews, I will post chapter 13. If I don't get 10 reviews after a long time after I've finalized the last chapter, then I will set the fanfiction as complete without the chapter. Think of this, as an incentive.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA! -does evil laugh while stroking evil cat while evil lightning flashed in the distance-

Okay that was a bit over the top, but that wraps up all I ne3eded to say for now, I'll probably bore you all half to death with more author's notes later on!

-Solo is peacin' out.


	16. Chapter 17: ONE FOR ALL!

Solo here. I've got some NEW anime-related inspiration, as some of you might have guessed by me previewing this chapter's title. That will be important for this chapter. This is gonna be a long chapter.

Prepare yourself.

Looks like the tide of battle has changed. Will Samus land a finishing blow? Will she be victorious? Let's find out, in Aran: Chapter 17: ONE FOR ALL!

But first, let's backtrack...

"Welcome Smash fans! Ladies and gentleman, life forms based on carbon or silicon, organic or not, humanoid or otherwise! Welcome to the official first match of Quarterfinals of the season three Super Smash Brothers doubles tournament! I'm Master Hand-"

Another voice abruptly interrupted the first over the booming intercom.

"AND I'M CRAZY HAND! WHO'S READY FOR PRE-MATCH KAROAKE!? OK 3...2...1 GO! BAAAAAABY YOUR A FIIIIIIREWOOOOOOOO-"

Predictably, the first voice interrupted the second voice to keep his wild twin brother under control, and to save everyone's eardrums from certain death.

"DO SHUT UP BROTHER, KIM JONG-UN CAN HEAR YOU FROM NORTH KOREA! eh-hem. Excuse my brother, there will be no pre-match Karaoke. Instead, let us review the rules, and introduce the teams. As we have now reached the official Quarterfinals, the rules will be somewhat different. Up until now, all matches have proceeded with many backup safety measures in place, to ensure against severe bodily injury, and for the safety of the contestants. This year I am changing that for Quarterfinals on-"

A rush of surprised and confused chatter erupted from the audience. I could hear it not just from the TV monitor, but even through the walls. I was taken aback as well. This was too much of a drastic change to be put in place, especially with no prior notice! Has a bit of his brothers crazed mind rubbed off on Master Hand? I couldn't believe my ears. I wasn't particularly worried about my own safety, my suit protected me quite well, the only way my suit could be compromised is if somebody were to hit me with the force of an artillery shell. No, I was more concerned for my doubles partner. By the way, where is he...?

MH continued.

"SILENCE!" he slammed his fist, which in this case his entire body, it made a sound that was heard over the audience. sometimes MH could be even scarier and crazier than his brother. That shut everyone up. At this point, I got up, and began walking around to see if I could find him. As I walked the corridors of 4th floor Smash Manor, a floor dedicated for pre-match preparations, I passed TV monitors every five yards, so I could still hear what he was saying. "I know this may seem sudden, but I assure you, it will make this tournament more interesting, and it will affect the strategies that the fighters will choose to utilize. Nothing like a good surprise to shake thing up a little bit, no?" His voice sounded just a bit too much on the sadistic side for my tastes. I would have a chat with him after the match, however it ended. I continued walking. I was somewhat unfamiliar with the layout of fourth floor. We as fighters weren't allowed there under normal circumstances, and the Manor's layout had changed over the last couple of seasons. I saw many unfamiliar hallways and rooms for purposes I knew not of. But generally I knew I had to find a staircase down to third floor for the male dormitories.

"Without further ado, we shall introduce the teams. First up, BLUE TEAM!" at MH's announcement, an image of two fighters appeared on the screen, accompanied by a sound byte from the recognizable "Metal Gear Solid 2 Main Theme" played. "On the Blue team, we have the infamous and feared space mercenary team leader, and skilled pilot, STAR WOLF!" Some applause broke out, but Wolf wasn't who the crowd was excited for, and for whom the little theme was playing for. "Also on Blue team, the legendary Spec Ops Soldier, a one man army, SOLID SNAKE!" the audience literally went wild. Snake. I've much heard of his accomplishments, his valor on the battlefield. He claims there's no glory in violence, but some of his acquaintances and friends have told me finds satisfaction from killing... I've heard rumors that despite his image as a hero, he might just be more brutal, maybe even more "evil" than those he kills. This is a man that even makes me feel on edge. With Snake's reputation for brutality, and the sudden lack of safety measures, I was worried about my partner. Perhaps you could call him a hero too, but he was cut from a different cloth than that man. He had a heart... and the mind of a naive child. He would hold back more than Snake would. I was even more worried by the fact that he hadn't appeared yet. He was usually pretty punctual. I found a staircase, good. I still have-

"Introducing the red team!" I could hear the beginning of my own music theme playing. They always played the theme of the fighter who had more KOs on record when introducing a team. That would be me. I missed most of the first introduction due to the fact that the staircase was more of an interior area, and away from any TV monitors. But once I was on the third floor I caught the end of his intro and mine.

"... He's a rookie this season, but he has promise! And last, but certainly not least, one of our own original twelve! A hardened veteran of this tournament, a LIVING LEGEND! The bounty hunter, the sole survivor of the K-2L incident, slayer of Space Pirates, Its SAMUS ARAN!" The intro pi-ed me off a bit, why did he have to bring THAT up? But I controlled my anger, I was more concerned about what I was doing right now. There! Room 314. I know that room well, because it often makes a lot of noise, and sometimes keeps me up from the occupants playing video games late into the night. I knocked. To my surprise, I heard an unexpected voice say "just a minute!"

"The match will begin in ten minutes, fighters, begin making your way to your assigned places." Master Hands calm but commanding voice instructed. I swore under my breath. I didn't have a minute. I kicked the heavy door off its hinges.

"YIPES!" Marth yelped as he narrowly avoided the door from hitting him. The commotion had awoken Ike as well. He quickly stood up, grabbed his already flaming sword by instinct and stood to bravely face whatever had interrupted his precious nap... in his pajamas, covered in little pictures of bunny rabbits.

"WHO GOES THERE!" He said, half-awake. I bellowed at Marth, who was more awake, and I judged him better able to answer my question.

"Where is my doubles partner!?"

"Samus! Calm down, you aren't helping matters, see, we have a situation..." Marth pointed to Kirby. Was it me, or did Kirby look a little bloated this morning? He had a small-human sized bulge in his stomach, his facial expression told me he felt very uncomfortable, but determined to keep whatever... or whoever was in there, to stay in there. Sorry, I should explain. Kirby, a little round pink marshmallow of a fellow, has extraordinary powers of sucking. No, I don't mean he's bad at what he does. He's actually a pretty good fighter, I mean to say his special power is that he can inhale objects, or living things, several times his size and body weight. He's also the cutest little thing ever.

"Poyo!" Kirby chirped.

I sighed, halfway laughing to myself once I grasped the situation.

"Your doubles partner... is there." Marth pointed to Kirby. No, Kirby wasn't my doubles partner. Kirby had been eliminated already, but only because he had made the mistake of partnering with Jigglypuff, one of the weakest fighters on the roster. My partner was currently in Kirby's stomach. It looked like he was struggling a bit, but nothing could get out of Kirby's incredible stomach.

"As soon as Master Hand announced the new rules, Kirby inhaled him, and I can't get him to spit him out." Marth explained, while Ike just kinda awkwardly stood by, still in his pajamas holding his deadly weapon, he looked a bit confused, and ended up falling on the floor, already asleep. His match had been yesterday, and he must be exhausted. I kneeled down to Kirby's height to see him eye to eye, and  
I removed my helmet. I softened my tone with Kirby, it was hard to be mad when you're talking to a little pink marshmallow with puppy eyes.

"Kirby... I know how you feel."

"Poyo?" Kirby looked at me questioningly, as if to say "you do?"

"Yes. You're worried about your friend. You care about him, and I respect and admire that." I smiled.

Kirby poyo-ed again, and his face told me that indeed, he was worried about his friend and roommate. I out my hand on his round pink head.

"But... as his friend, there's more you can do for him than worrying for his well-being."

Kirby looked at me, puzzled.

"you need to consider his wishes too. Sure it's dangerous. But I know he still wants to fight."

Kirby poyo-ed in deep consideration, it was a difficult situation, I know. Letting someone you care about do something they want to do, even if it means they might put themselves in danger. But this wasn't just any person, my doubles partner...

"When I first met him, some people didn't take him very seriously. But he told me, in our first match together, he wanted to win. He looks up to famous characters like you, Fox, Donkey Kong, Link, yea... even that ol' plumber. He told me his dream was to become like us, to have his own little game series, and have fans, and this tournament was his chance to get noticed. This is very important to him. That's all I have to say, but there's only about seven minutes left. I'm going to fight, and I think he would want to as well. Please don't make me fight alone."

I got up and left. I had no choice, my match was about to start. Hopefully Kirby took my advice to heart.

-Minutes later-

"Aaaand here comes Red Team!... or at least Samus. Is she fighting alone today? The match will start in two minutes, so her partner has to get here before then if he wants to battle."

Okay, forget what I said earlier, I was officially mad at Kirby... whelp guess I'm fighting alo-

"WOOP!" was what I heard behind me. I turned around to see Pit laying face-down on the arena floor, looks like he tripped on that last stair up... again... it's a real doozy for him I guess. "Oww... that hurt..."

"Pit?"

"BUT NOT AS MUCH AS THEIR GONNA HURT AFTER I'M DONE WITH THEM!" Pit flapped his wings once to arrive back at a standing position and gave me a cheesy grin.

"Glad to hear it, you got the right idea Pit, keep a close eye on the floor. Never know where Snake is gonna plant his C-4s, he takes ya' by surprise sometimes. Don't let yourself get zoned and fight on his terms. Not worried about Wolf though, he's all bark and no bite." I advised Pit. When you're giving him battle tips, keep it nice and simple. He nodded enthusiastically. I just knew he was looking forward to this battle...

...and so was I. By the look of things, Snake was too. We were in the teleportation rooms, but there were TV monitors set up, and we could see each other's teams, we couldn't hear them though. Pit and I made funny faces at them through the monitors, and before we knew it, we were teleported. I hate teleportation... makes me queasy, and sometimes I see weird things while I'm being teleported, as if I was dreaming. This time it went relatively smooth, just a few moments of nausea and a little headache. Then we arrived.

"SPEAR PILLAR, DAMNIT" I swore.

"OMYGODITSDIALGAWHERE'SAPOKEBALLINEEDTOCATCHTHATRIGHTNOW" Pit frantically searched around him for a pokeball.

"Pit, it's not time to nerd out right now. Besides, items are turned off. Why they picked this stage, I dunno. FOCUS!" I bopped him on the noggin as he was still staring at Dialga with that "Gotta catch em' all" look.

"Oof! Samus! Remember they disabled the- WHOA!" We both dodged a guided rocket in the nick of time. We looked at each other for a second. We didn't even need to talk to decide on our plan. That's the level of communication and familiarity you need to have with your doubles partner to work. He charged, spinning his bow and "HIYAYAYAAAA!"-ing to reflect projectiles from Snake and Wolf. Meanwhile, I charged my arm canon.

"This is gonna sting like a bi-h" I smiled maliciously. I bet the audience could tell this was gonna be a nice quick match, because I never even bothered to put my helmet on. This was going to be easy. I gave Pit the agreed-upon signal code word: "TACOS!", and he jumped, right as I fired my fully charged shot right at the enemy team, who had bunched up shoulder-to-shoulder to fire projectiles at us. Poor decision. Pit leapt with perfect timing, and as he did...

" _ **DETROOOOOIT SM-AAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSHHHH!**_ " He screamed at the top of his lungs, as his upper dash arm attack drove away the arms of the metal behemoth, freeing it's weak spot, the "red glowy thing", open for my own attack. I didn't watch nearly as much anime as him, otherwise I would've come up with a cool attack name too. But I made up for it by imitating Link:

" _ **HIIII-YAAAAAAAAAAA!"**_ The formation of energy around my left arm, shaped as a sword blade, cut a clean slice into Peace Walker's weak point... I felt... physically exhausted by the effort, as if this new power drained more than just my suit's energy reserves. I gave my jump boosters another burst to land safely. Well, I hadn't expected Pit to make such a sudden re-entrance.

"Switching to emergency self-defense mode" Came a cool female voice from Peace Walker. Suddenly, extra missile launchers emerged from its body, all pointed at me and...

"Hi!" Pit waved at me, grinning cheerily. Well... he looked rather un-eggplant-y and happy right now. He gave me the thumbs-up, and I returned it.

"Welcome back, my favorite doubles partner!" Thinking back to the good ol days of season three. But he wasn't alone.

"I brought some friends!" Pit pointed behind him, and I saw them.

"LUCY! LADY P! For a second, I forgot there was a murderous weapon of mass destruction hoping to turn me into Samus Stew and ran towards my friends. I hadn't known Lady P and Lucy for too long, but I make my mind up about people quickly.

"Samus, after we're done here, I brought us some vodka for later." Lady P Smiled.

"Hey Samus!" Lucy ran up and high-fived me, which probably hurt her hand just a bit.

"Hey Sam! Thought you could use some help!"

"What's Vodka?" Pit asked.

"You're a bit young for that yet, comrade." I reminded him.

"But I'm almost the same age as you!" Pit complained.

"Give it another twenty-five years then, and we can drink our way through Russia together, but right now, WATCH OUT!"

Literally dozens of missiles blocked out the sun.

Lady P, Pit, and I stood shoulder, Lucy behind us. Lady P aimed her scepter skywards, and shouted: "Auto-reticule!" and fired a volley of blue bolts, each perfectly targeting individual missiles, exploding midair.

Pit summoned a new weapon in an instant, a laser cannon almost as big as him, and started firing on full auto, keeping steady aim, his super strength allowed his body to absorb all the recoil without throwing his aim off in the slightest. As a result, he could shoot on full auto and miss very few shots, nailing several missiles within a split second, causing a chain reaction of explosions.

My right arm was still broken, so I couldn't do much but watch Pit and Palutena blast the missiles out of the sky. Had to admit, it was kind've impressive.

Within one and a half seconds, all had been wiped out, and a smoke cloud obstructed our view for a few moments. All was still. But my suit notified me of what Peace walker had up its sleeve.

"Attack plan Jelly doughnut." I muttered to Pit.

"Gotcha." He dived in front of me and again swapped his weapon instantly. This time two floating shield-like objects appeared, hovering over his shoulders.

"I only got nuff' juice left for one more trick. Keep me covered."

Pit nodded. Lady P must have noticed my idea, or she could sense what Peace Walker was doing, and she stepped in front of Lucina, summoning up a holographic-like, translucent shield in front of her.

Some things are just really damn hard to kill.

FWOOOOOSH!

Peace Walker emerged from the smoke cloud, charging us, and as expected, activated a previously concealed flamethrower, spewing flames at us. Pit made a motion with his arm, and a shield like Palutena's appeared in front of his weapons. Both Pit's and Lady P's shields deflected the flames, Peace Walker was getting closer.

"KEEP GOING, a little more time..." I could tell it was straining them to keep reflecting the flames, but I needed it to be close for my idea to work. One good wombo combo should finish this S.O.B. off!

"NOT YET!"... just a second more...

"I can't keep it up any longer!" Pit grunted.

"ITS READY!" As soon as I announced that, Pit dived out from in front of me. Due to my right arm being out for the count, and being on reserves, there was only so much that I could do. But I had a plan... duh. I reached out with my left hand, this time, a glowing-blue transparent cord extended out and latched onto Peace Walker's weapon. I used the last of my suit's power reserves, diverting the power to increase output of the armor's joints, enabling me to pull with superhuman strength.

CREEAAAK

I managed to disable the flamethrower weapon, I guess Samus stew is off the menu for today... as the last of my suit's energy dissipated, my suit came apart in pieces. I felt the heat of the sun bear down on me without the protection of my suit... phew I really take that thing for granted sometimes. I casually flung my now-useless helmet off to the side, I shouldn't need it anyway-

"NOW! Lady P, Lucy, GO FOR THE LEGS!"

Attack plan "jelly doughnut" hit its second phase. Pit re-equipped his weapon, the two hovering shields disappeared, replaced by a tiny sphere, which embedded itself into the palm of Pit's right hand, and blue energy began to swirl around his arm. This was a weapon he referred to as a "palm", a compact weapon that fits in his palm. A light weapon that is easily to carry and doesn't weigh anything. I knew he had a few tricks up his sleeve of how to use it.

Lucy charged at Peace walkers right leg as soon at the opportunity presented itself. Lucy was a Fire Emblem swordswoman who took inspiration from Marth's style. She equaled him in skill, but subtle differences existed in how their technique swinging their swords. But no matter how you looked at it, she was a reliable sword user, her sword being called Parallel Falchion. Lucy leapt as she neared her target, bringing her sword down right on the joint in Peace Walker's leg, using gravity, and with a little help from Lady Palutena boosting her strength with her magic, Lucy was able to cause enough damage to cause its leg to buckle. Lady P charged as well, her speed boosted by magic, she had switched her scepter out for a mighty club, impressively larger than me and her put together, jet black in color, it looked like a solid block of metal on a handle. She mirrored Lucina, attacking the left leg. All of this happened in the space of ten seconds or less.

Now it was Pit's turn. Attack plan Jelly doughnut phase three. Peace walker's front legs had been effectively taken out, and it leaned forward in kind've a downward-facing-dog pose, its weak spot on its neck now a lot closer. Pit took off in a sprint, taking advantage of the opportunity. He got in close. However, the weak spot was still elevated high enough a little 5'3 angel kid would still have no hope to reach it... under normal circumstances. Pit charged a shot from his palm, and thrust his hand downward, simultaneously releasing it.

BANG! an explosion erupted directly from his hand, the downward force created a Newton's-second-law opposite reaction, sending him straight up. He flipped at the crest of his jump, now right above his target. He fell another few feet, and then brought his right palm down on his target, repeating what he just did, delivering a fully charged shot directly on Peace Walker's already heavily damaged weak point.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The AI processing core literally split in half under the immense force. Pit flapped his wings a few times to land softly.

... for a few seconds there was silence.

It was still for a few moments, and all I could hear was the blazing hot, dry wind of the desert. I felt a hand on my good shoulder. I turned around to face...

Snake. He was smiling. Like. As if he were relieved...

"Looks like you did it Samus. What was that? Attack plan Jelly doughnut...? When did you make that one?"

"Pit and I thought of it together. Speaking of which, don't think just because we worked together to kill one damned robo-nuke thingy that you're off the hook!" I snapped at him. My good arm twicthed, I kinda wanted to punch him for all he put me through. In fact, I was halfway about to, but then:

"Wait, Samus." Pit was next to me now. He seemed as if there was something he had to say.

"Whats up?"

"Is... that K-pop?" Pit wondered.

Somehow, that stupid robot was still alive, and it was dancing and blaring K-pop at full volume! Well it was quite a sight to see a massive war machine dance around to K-Pop... apparently we had damaged it's programming too much by attacking the AI core, and it was malfunctioning...

"GOD DAMNIT TURN THAT SH- OFF!" I screamed

nobody could hear me over the blaring music. Snake looked disgusted, as did Fox, but Pit and Lady P were singing and dancing along... of course... Lucy was joining them... I'll need to have a chat with her later about her musical tastes.

"FOCUS EVGERYONE, WE GOTTA BRING IT DOWN!" They didn't hear me still, but I made a series of very violent hand gestures that generally got the point across.

We all prepared to deliver the finishing blow...

Hold on. Snake looked worried. He rushed over to me and shouted over the music:

"SHE'S GONNA BLOW,WE GOTTA TAKE HER DOWN FAST!"

End of chapter 17.

Okay guys remember my deal with Chapter 13, I will post if I get 10 reviews! Got it? TEN! What's five plus five? TEN! How many tacos can I eat in a row? TEN! Okay, I typically only have three... my dad made tacos a couple nights ago and it was REALLY GOOD...

Next time on Aran! Chapter 18: The Snake behind the Snake.

Probably the most stressful situation I've been in, other than the K-2l incident... I was surrounded by a weapon of mass destruction turned weapon of mass K-pop, still busting a move, a "goddess", yea I don't believe that BS, there's only one god, her angel-warrior-servant, and a swordswoman, who were also dancing and singing to said K-pop music, despite having been moments before locked in an epic battle with a deadly war machine. Oh did I mnetion a literal anthropomorphic fox was here too? Now, Snake, a man who I've been pursuing all this time who I didn;t trust as far as I could throw, and he's one heavy son of a Bi-h, is telling me that a nuclear-capable robotic weapon "is about to blow". Ugh... and of course it HAS to be K-pop... I would've taken sappy country songs, or even that weird rap music people listen to nowadays over this. For just a moment, I was completely lost on what to do. If this thing really was about to explode, it would undoubtedly cause a chain reaction, and detonate the nuclear weapon it was armed with. I've survived from pretty freaky sh-, but I didn't want to press my luck with a thermonuclear explosion. No amount of bird DNA is gonna help me live through that.

But...

that moments ended when i heard another sound, and I looked behind me to see a familiar looking craft coming to a landing.

"HEY EVERYONE! MARIO IS BACK! I motioned for Lady P, Lucy, and Pit to come over. Looks like our getaway vehicle was here, huzzah!

...aaaand there's the preview! Who woulda' thunk those three would be into K-pop? Did y'all like the boss fight? I spent a bit too much time on this scene, sorry for the long delay. But I had fun writing it.

I'm also holding off posting another Mario chapter until I get a review on that, I haven't checked fanfiction in a while, so if I find i've gotten a review, ill post another chapter for that. It's kinda fun to write those, but I'm mostly focused on finishing Aran and getting the stage set for the next fanfic.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: I WILL BE GONE JULY 13-AUGUST 10! I got a scholarship for a summer class up north in the Minnesota-Canada boundary waters, so I'll be occupied during that time, we will see how much writing I can prepare before that time so you have something to read in the meantime.

Catch you later, loyal readers! God bless.

-Solo is peacin' out


	17. Chapter 18: Riddle me this

Hey readers! Reminder: Will be gone July 13-August 10, actually I'm leaving the 12th so probably wont get much writing done then we will see. But ill give you this for now, enjoy. After I get back ill be back in class by the 21st, and ill be going to the state fair one day in the gap between the trip and school, so not much writing will happen then, because ill be packing, but ill try to get something out proabbly by the end of August again for Aran, ill try to wrap this up and get a real start on my next fic, i need some time to decide the future of my Mario fanfic, I'll probably continue it but ill need fresh inspiration in order to put out any quality stuff. Thanks for understanding.

(this was written sometime before the trip) A lot has happened in my life recently, you guys know i like to tell you about it in authors notes, i do that to connect with you on a personal level, i have too much to say though, because so much has happened so i cant say all of it without it going overboard. But I got a haircut today, they actually got it perfect. It was down to my shoulders before, and i wanted it shorter for my trip. It feels nice to not have hair covering my neck, and the style looks nice. It turns out I way overpacked for the trip, its a class in the boundary waters of Minesota and Canada, a fellow student from my college ius gonna let me carpool with her and her parents. I did all this packing and got all this stuff, and then learned they have a Malibu... yeah, I had to cut the stuff im bringing basically in half. I have a tendency to overpack, and finding the right insect repellent was a real chore. I heard that mosquito's were Minesota's state bird. (bleh). But im pretty much ready now, Ive been looking forward to the trip for a while now. Anyway, this chapter might be short, but i wanted you guys to have some reading before I went away.

8/16/19 I'm back! Well I was back August 10, already started writing a bit, just went to a dive bar yesterday (I did turn 21) to hear music, and I got pretty drunk, still a bit tipsy this morning, but feeling like writing! I think I'm making more typos than usual though...

THREE MONTHs LATER-

Let's just say that after all that happened, security was tightened around here...

They converted one of the old buildings that used to house the original 12, myself included, into a temporary detention site. Two R.O.B. units stood guard by the doors. They were dressed up in police officer costumes, complete with a fake mustache and sunglasses. I walked up to them.

"I'm here to see all three, I have MH's permission." I showed the R.O.B. on the right a written note, signed with a giant fingerprint. The R.O.B. nodded, and let me in. They sure changed the place. They had cleaned it up, and renovated it enough to use it again, as the building had fallen into disrepair due to lack of use. It was a quiet night, I was enjoying the relative amount of peace since "the incident", as people called it around here. The rest of the missing fighters had been located, some had been trapped under rubble in the attack on the manor. The place had undergone enough repair to re-open, but there were still some sections where evidence of the attack was visible. This place hadn't been affect, as it existed in its own pocket dimension, only accessible by a particular, and well guarded portal that was invisible to the naked eye, so it wouldn't be found. In fact, both ends were invisible, so it made it harder for anyone to get in or out. MH had sent me to question the three we captured. They all surrendered without any further resistance, to my surprise. I definitely noticed common patterns between the three. All three weren't on the roster, but wanted to be. In fact, all three had a significant following of people vouching for them to be put on the roster. Snake and Wolf had been in last season, but had been cut from the roster. It took these last few months or so for everything to settle down, and MH wanted me to personally interrogate them. He said that everyone deserved answers, but especially me. It seemed like MH trusted me even more now. He always kept a lot from us in the past, he was quite an enigma himself. But recently, he had started to open up to me more. He trusted me, I guess. He had no reason not to. I did a lot of his dirty work for him.

Inside, the building was dimly lit, half the lights were turned off to save on the bills, it didn't matter much considering only three people were being held here right now. More R.O.B. units guarded the hallways, and the hallways were kind of a maze to confuse anyone who might be trying to escape. The place kinda gave off creepy vibes, but I'm used to that. I decided I was going right to Snake. I figured Wolf wouldn't be worth it, but maybe interrogating all three at once would be productive... but I was putting off talking to the third of the trio. All i really needed to say to wolf was to remind him he owed me a LOT of money for the ship, and that I didn't give a damn if he was paying the deductible on his landmaster! Serves him right.

I took a few lefts and five rights and came to Snake's cell. I keyed in a memorized security code to open the heavy metal door. The man in question was sitting at a table that his hands were cuffed to. I sat down opposite to him, and offered him a coffee. Lady P opened a new coffeeshop, and everyone loved it. He took a sip and sighed in relief. I guess he had good taste in coffee.

"Alright bub. MH seems to believe whatever you told him, but now you gotta tell me. I'm not going to be as easy to convince." apparently MH was letting Snake off easy for what he did, and I had no clue why.

Snake took a much longer sip of coffee, choosing his words carefully no doubt. He better.

"Well Samus... it all began a while ago. Season three to be more precise. MH was of course.. impressed with my skills, and hired me to do some work for him. Sounds like he does the same with you."

"Oooh now I see where you're going with this, you're gonna say you did all this on MH's orders... but why the hell would he ask you to-"

"Samus, let me finish. Yes, MH has been giving me orders for a while, the uuhhh... taco... incident was my doing, was, least at first. I didn't disable the safety programs, so I didn't figure anyone would get hurt." He studied my expression and continued. "I know. You're wondering why. It was a warning to have you all on edge... so you would be more prepared for what came next. The next attack wasn't my doing."

"That's easy to say you didn't... were you acting on MH's orders while you initiated your... 'warning'?" So far I was unconvinced. If Snake had been working on MH's orders, MH would have let me know.

"No. Well... generally yes. MH gave me quite a vague assignment to head out and find any further threats to the security of the competition. He was, as you could imagine, on edge after what happened in the season I joined." Snake explained, I was getting the feeling there might be somethings I didn't understand about the situation.

"The Subspace war, you're talking about that?" I remembered that ordeal like it was yesterday... good memories and bad... mostly bad... but hey, I met Pikachu, couldn't ask for a better pet!

"Yeah... that put ol' handy on edge. He didn't want any more... interruptions in his precious tournament."

"Too late for that." I retorted angrily, I had missed over three months in matches, my arm still needed more time to heal...

"Yeah yeah, I did my best. Thing is, I did find a threat. Something worse."

"what is it?"

"Well, right now my hypothesis is some sort of hacker. This hacker piggytailed off of my hack somehow, and disabled the safety programs, heck I didn't even program the tacos to explode really, I just wanted to show that there were weaknesses in the main computer's cybersecurity, so that you guys would be aware. I didn't have much time, I was sure this hacker person knew where I was, so I had to do something quick and dramatic, I didn't expect him to use my own hack against you guys though. I'm sorry."

It suddenly went very quiet. We looked at each other for a minute, and I went over it in my head.

"So I'm assuming the next attack was this... 'hacker's' doing?"

"Yes. I wasn't aware of the second attack for a while, I had to go off the grid and take precautions that he... or she... wouldn't be able to hack into my device again. While I was doing my investigation... well I found some information that lead me to Peace Walker. See, it wasn't supposed to be here. Peace Walker was a weapon developed for other purposes."

"who made it and why?"

"Well, skipping all the classified Sh-, basically it was made by a sicko who wanted to prove a point."

"...and that is?"

"He wanted to prove that Mutually Ensured Destruction wasn't an adequate deterrent to avoid nuclear war... but that wasn't why it was there. It was stolen from its original designer."

That triggered a memory of what Mega Man had said about Peace Walker... how it had "lost" its original programming. So far, what he was saying could possibly be true. But I knew Snake, he could be lying. Then again, MH had believed him. He had only been holding Snake here for his own protection, and that it was the only facility available with enough security. Many other smashers weren't convinced of Snake's innocence despite what MH believed. Neither was I, yet. I needed...

"So what about the others, were they in it with you?"

"Well they were, Wolf went rogue on me. I think he only agreed to help so that he could get to Fox again, he just has a personal vendetta. However... my... other comrade has been helpful."

"Ridley?" I had given up on not speaking his name. I'd been thinking a lot about my past in the last three months, with all the dreams I've been having since season four started...plus the research I did on Mario's laptop.

"Yeah. Something's different with Ridley. He's not like the person, or space dragon or whatever you described. Maybe he's changed."

"How so?" I asked with mild curiosity. Even if I came to believe his story, I wouldn't believe for a second that Ridley could change.

"Well, he seemed interested in cooperating... for a cause that didn't involve butchering innocent people, which is usually his favorite activity." Snake certainly could be blunt.

"Well, good for that ba-rd... glad he's finding a new hobby. He's still gonna rot in hell if you ask me." I mumbled, trying to keep my emotions in check.

"Maybe. It could have just been a front. I think you know that all three of us ended up together because we were in a... similar situation."

"You all want in huh?"

"Yeah."

"Probably won't happen. Especially not Ridley. I'll do anything in my power to make sure it doesn't. I don't give a damn either way about Wolf... as for you... convince me you weren't responsible for what happened and maybe I'll support you." To be honest, subconsciously I didn't want him to be responsible for it. If he was really behind those attacks, well let's just say I didn't want an enemy like Snake.

"I believe him." I heard a familiar voice from behind me, I nearly jumped in surprise.

"Pit? What are you doing here?"

He must have come in while I was questioning Snake. Figures he would believe him, those two became friends back in season three.

"Heh, you tell im' pal." Snake chuckled and brofisted Pit with his free hand. Pit turned to me and explained:

"Remember when you found me Samus?"

"Uhhh... yeah.. you never really gave e the full story of what happened there actually." Shortly after we had returned from defeating Peace Walker, Pit had to return back to Skyworld to take care of some stuff there... apparently killing the god of death had some... unplanned consequences... and he had to return for an extended period, and he hadn't the chance to tell me his side of what happened after the taco incident.

"Well, after the explodey tacos, I ended up in a weird place... never seen before, maybe t was a new stage? I wandered around for a while until this nice man found me, I feel like I remember him from somewhere... anyway I was really thirsty so he gave me some water and food and stuff, it was pretty yummy... but then he told me about a man he saw just before I got there, they way he described him sounded like Snake."

Snake was sipping his coffee quietly, he seemed as f he had already heard the story, I hadn't.

"What kind of new place?" I asked him.

"Well it was awfully hot, not that far away from where you found me... y'know..."

"Okay... so you ended up in the desert where MH ordered me to go right after the exploding tacos..." ugh I feel strange even saying that, this has been a bizarre three months for me. "How did you end up as an eggplant?" I asked Pit, as realized just how strange this conversation was...

"eeeehh long story, rather not relive that, but let's just say it involved a purple wizard dude, floor ice cream, and lots of traumatic experiences. "

"Oh." I ended it there, not wanting to pry too much.

"After you found me Lady Palutena turned me back and filled me in on what happened, I knew Snake wasn't the one behind the attacks."

"How so?"

"Being an eggplant isn't exactly pleasant... but it has its benefits. I'm a lot smaller and so I spied on Snake while in eggplant form, and heard him talking to someone about what happened, but then I was almost turned into a salad. Thanks for helping me out again Samus..." He smiled. So he WAS doing recon huh? Im proud of him.

"No prob pal." I patted his head and then turned back to Snake.

Snake nodded "Yeah, listen to the kid, he knows what up."

I sighed. "Alright, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now, just because your story kinda works and I believe Pit. "

"This might not be the time to say this.. but.." Snake hesitated.

"What's up?" If he didn't want to tell me, it was probably important.

"Ridley wants to speak to you."

I was silent for a moment. Thinking. But then I shrugged. "Fine. I guess I'll go talk with him." I gave Pit a brofist and told him i'd meet him later and we could have ice cream. That seemed to make him happy, and he skipped off to watch Meta Knight fight Falco, they were hosting friendlies right now, which were matches more for entertainment and fun rather than competition. Okay... it wasn't suppose4d to be competitive, but most fighters take friendlies pretty serious still. I said goodbye to Snake and shook off the last bit of apprehension of talking with Ridley. Perhaps I'd learn something important from him.

Well let's just say I made as many left turns as a NASCAr and got lost, then tripped on one of Diddy Kong's discarded banana's, wonder what he was even doing here, but I finally made it to Ridley's cell. Gotta admit I had expectations of how this would go. I imagined him chained up in his cell, bloodstined fro his thousands of innocent victims, my parent's among them... vibes more viscious than those 2016 televised presidential debates... hungering for blood... after takiong a breath i finally opened the door... about to meet my parent's murderer again after years...

and there he was- "WHAT THE ACTUAL F-

His cell was decorated by a multitude of anime character bobbleheads. Ridley himself clothed, WAIT HES WEARING CLOTHES, in a "Greenpeace" shirt and a beret. I had caught him in the middle of painting a flowery landscape on a canvas. Not even half bad... he could probably sell that for a decent price.

He paused from what he was doing, and put down his brush.

"Ah, Samus, glad you could join me. I assume my comrade Snake send you here. He was completely un-handcuffed or restrained, the lock on the door wasn't even locked. WHY? If anyone here was dangerous, it was Ridley... "I've been watching this fellow by the name of Bob Ross lately, truly inspiring. I took up the brush to paint the most beautiful planet's i've visited."

"How about you paint all the dead corpses of all the people you killed, scum." I managed, I was a little lost for words and choked up in surprise right now.

"Hmm, not sure people would want to see that... besides i've not killed a soul lately, i'm turning over as new leaf, Samus."

I was so ticked off I actually drew my pistol and fired a round right at his face, which he dodged.

"Samus, do not be alarmed! I have no intention to fight, just to talk." His voice was the same old croaky ugly mess that it always was, but with a different note to it, higher in pitch and more subdued. It almost resembled regular human speech.

"Start talking then, and make it quick before I'm tempted to aim a little better next time." I hissed. My trigger finger itched, I only missed because I was using my left hand. If I had my right arm in good condition, I would've nailed his ugly face.

"Alright, alright" He held up his long arms defensively. "Well, I'm sure Snake told you his story, I decided to work with him in the hopes, yes I'll be honest, MH would notice my talents. I hope to join the contest, I've applied for years but have never been accepted. I think the reason was MH thought I would just slaughter everyone in the tournament if he let me in. KI will admit, it was a tempting thought, but honestly I don't mind NOT killing people, as long as I get to challenge them on the battlefield, it makes no difference if I kill or not. It is the thrill of battle that truly stirs me, as well as true beauty!" He pointed to his painting. I could care less if he painted the Last Supper or the Mona Lisa, I wasn't buying this.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure you just like killing people. If the B.S. that's coming out of your mouth right now is true, why did you kill everyone but me back on K-2L?" I recalibrated my pistol, upping the power, if I could stun him, perhaps I could get the upper hand on him, and end his cursed existence once and for all. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance.

"Anoo sumimasen, Samus-san, Ridley-san." (Translation: Excuse me, Ms. Samus) Aaaaand here comes Marth... he was escorting Master Hand. Marth was known for being the second most skilled swordsman of the roster, coming after Link. He bowed to us for some reason, then stood guard by the door as MH squeezed himself in.

"Aaah, I thought I would find you here, Samus... I see you two have been..." He looked at the hole in the wall I had made with my pistol "... reacquainted."

"What are you doing here?" I muttered, keeping my eyes on Ridley.

"Well, I expected that this might happen, so I came to make sure no violence happened today, we've had enough of that around here for a while... and for Ridley's sake... you see, Samus, what Ridley say is true. He only wishes to participate in our tournament, and his actions recently were in service to Snake, who was in fact working for me, as it turns out. I too thought he had gone rogue, but he ended up taking down a threat to all of Super Smash bros. You see, Ridley lured you to Peace Walker, because Snake would not have been able to fight it alone. " MH explained patiently.

"They way you phrased that makes me think you're actually considering..."

"Yes. Samus. In fact, the decision is already practically made. I AM facing quite a bit of pressure from the community, they want Ridley. Besides, I don't think he's too big, I'm sure we can fit him in." He reassured himself... the reason the door wasn't locked because Ridley probably broke the door to get into the cell, being too tall to duck under the doorframe... "... and I am convinced he will keep his word not to go on a murderous rampage, well, not outside official matches that is! Ridley will make a fine competitor! Viciousness alongside brutal intelligence. He would make a FINE addition." MH flattered Ridley. He was a sucker for any character he considered worthy. I'll admit, some of his choices I found rather... questionable, thinking back to the duck hunt dog. When MH found a character he liked, it was difficult to persuade him otherwise. It was true, as difficult to admit as it was, that Ridley was a popular choice, alongside Snake and Ridley, to be added in again next season. He was nearly added THIS season. MH continued: "In fact, I would like to have Ridley work for me from now on this season as a stage hazard on one of your own stages, Miss Aran."

Him using my last name triggered a memory. I finally loosened my grip on the pistol, and holstered it. "Hey MH, there's something I wanted to ask you... some stuff I dug up doing some research on my last mission. I thought maybe you would know something." MH was known to be well informed, the geek that he is. He designed the tournament because he always wanted to know who would win in a fair fight... Mario.. Link.. Fox... freaking jigglypuff... and me, of course, original crew member right here, baby. Anyway, he possessed a wide knowledge of all of our universes and stories.

"I think I could help you, perhaps." MH assured me, he probably wanted to help me so I'd forgive him for putting Ridley in. That's good enough for me, I wanted to know so badly, I'd play nice for now at least if he gave me answers. I took out my smartphone that had the K-2L file loaded up on it, and showed MH, he put reading glasses on his middle knuckle. "I figured someday you would find out... somehow. Yes, Samus. You had a little brother."...

He said those words that day, words that would change the course of my life for a long time afterwards. I was certainly chocked, my heart skipped a beat or two, and for a second I didn't know what to say. I mean, sure I had arrived at that possibility myself, but to hear confirmation of it was simply amazing. Like something you wanted to be true for a long time confirmed... like, for example, if a certain somebody had confirmed a character you wanted for smash for a looong time, yea it was like that feeling.

To my surprise, that also got a reaction out of Ridley. He looked as if he knew something, did he remember killing my little bro? Was he looking back to that moment I've dreamt about and thinking "Oh... good times."?! That Bast-! But MH said something that distracted me from my constant occupation of hating Ridley.

"Samus, I believe Ridley was something to say to you."

I turned to Ridley. He took off his hat, sighed, and dipped his paintbrush in a water can. He then motioned for Marth to bring him his tablet, at least they had confiscated his tasblet while he was "imprisoned" here... Marth broight it to hi, and handed it to him all fancy like... what a freaking goon.

"Kore, Ridley-san". (Here, Mr. Ridley.) Marth whispered in his native language.

"Arigato Gozaimas." (Thank you) Ridley surprised even Marth by replying in smooth Japanese as he bowed and took his tablet. He pulled up some of his own files. "Now, you may view me as a cold-blooded killer that does not care about his victims, in reality, I give them quite a bit of thought, perhaps its remorse? I remember every victim, those I meet, whether I kill them or not... and even those..." He showed me two image son the tablet that made me gasp, along with a caption. "... even those I apparently did not manage to kill. Call it an... aura... that each person has. I remember it, and I can identify people from years ago. That's how I remembered you the next time we had met... twas' a fight to remember. But I, as soon as I laid eyes on the boy, was absolutely convinced, it was him. The little brother of the girl I decided to spare. I thought I HAD killed him, all those years ago. I cannot explain it, how he survived. Although it seems as if he has changed since I encountered him. I cannot explain what happened to him, but here he is." My heart raced. On the left picture was an image of the little toddler boy I saw from my dream... labeled: Soloman Aran, Status: UPDATED AS OF RECENTLY: ALIVE and the picture on my right, it showed HIM!

My doubles partner...

My opponent in the last official match I took part in opening day, which was interrupted.

My friend.

My little brother.

I couldn't believe it. My little Brother was alive, and with me all of last season.

I said something I'd never thought I'd say in my entire life, my voice shaking.

"Thank you... for showing me... this... Ridley..." As tears welled up in my eyes.

That's right Folks. THIS was the Metroid theory I hinted at that I began this fanfiction for. This isn't a very known one, it barely exists, but a few people in some threads online discussed this possibility, and I simply could not resist. Two characters that I love, could be siblings. Of course, this is as far from canon as I could express, but it's possible. Look it up for more info. Now, I want to say this. I might make one more chapter of Aran. That's the bad news, his Fanfic is coming to its conclusion.

However there is good news. I will now begin going back and editing chapters to improve them and make the better. There IS one more chapter to be posted, it is already almost completed, other than chapter 19. That would be chapter 13. I would like you all to post a total of 10 reviews before I post Chapter 13. Chapter 13 contains crucial plot information that will make this fanfic make more sense. I also put my very own OC in this chapter, so if you want to read the "lost Chapter" of Aran: My first fanfic, then leave those reviews.

Another announcement. I will probgably post one more Mario fanfic chapter, but I will discontinue it if I don't at least get one review for it. This was a request I received from someone. I am happy to continue it if I receive more support for it, but I find I'm better at writing things like Aran, and I am strugglign to write the Mario fanfic. So if you guys want to see more of that, read my Mario show fanfic and leave a review. I will continue to actively write here on for some time. This leaves me with my next, and most exciting announcement yet. I am about to begin serious work on my...

Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Fanfic! The game has been out for like 9 months no and I haven't written a fic on it. That's because I wanted to write Aran,. and I wanted to write it set in the smash 4 universe. But my next fanfic will actually be set in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, this fanfic will essentially be a sequel to Aran, and all events that happened in Aran have happened in my next fanfic. However, this next fanfic will be even better, as all my writing experience and inspiration will come together to form my true masterpiece. Aran is just the beginning. I have some updates on this ultimate fanfic. I will draw inspiration, as i have previously mentioned, from the anime Promised Neverland, but I will also take inspiration from the Matrix, and the 2njd matrix movie, I have viewed those two films last summer before my field station class and I enjoyed and was inspired by them. Especially the action. As a last bit of news, the title for this next fanfic will be:

SSBU: Void Wars

This title has something to do with the new powers Samus has acquired, and the explanation for how Samus got those powers that she used against Peace Walker is in chapter n13, so leave reviews giving good feedback, and I will post chapter 13, and you guys will understand how Samus got them, and their origin. It is a concept that is related to my OC, and my potential future Sci-fi novel that In will write. Stay tuned. I will post the first chapter of SSBU: Void Wars as soon as I can and will try to make more consistent chapters. These chapters WILL be longer and with more quality put into them, so be patient. This will be worth the wait.

One last announcement, as of sep. 3, Aran: My first fanfic has reach its 1st anniversary! This is my first anniversary in general as a fanfic writer. It's also nice because September is my bday month. I turned sep 26,and I got nice and drunk on my bday, don't worry i didn't have a hangover, I'm just good that way.

Now before I leave you, I would like to update you on my life. I'm still in this E-sports group on campus and we play smash all the time. I still main Pit, in fact I've advanced greatly with him just recently. I think I can go far with him. Ill have a tournament tomorrow, I'll tell you how I do. I kind of want to tell you guys about my experience from my summer class, but that can wait for now. I'll let all these announcements sink in to your brains for now... and yes I'm learning Japanese, i'm taking a class. But i don't have a way to type Japanese characters. I know hiragana pretty well, starting to learn Katakana characters.

I enjoy what I do, writing for you guys, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I have a lot more great writing to come! Sayonara!

\- Solo is peacin' out...


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